Paramilitary group attacks open market in Sudan, killing 54 people, wounding scores

Paramilitary group RSF attacks Sudanese market, killing 54 and injuring 158, escalating civil war atrocities.

An attack on an open market in the Sudanese city of Omdurman by a paramilitary group killed 54 people and wounded at least 158, health authorities said on Saturday (February 1, 2025.) The attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the Sabrein Market was the latest in a series of deadly attacks in the escalated civil war that has wrecked the northeastern African country.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been battling the military since April 2023. Khalid al-Aleisir, Mof Culture and Government spokesperson, condemned the attack, saying that the casualties included many women and children. He said the attack caused widespread destruction.

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“This criminal act adds to the bloody record of this militia,” he said in a statement. “It constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.” Sudan’s Doctors Syndicate said one mortar shell hit metres (yards) away from Al-Naw Hospital, which received most of the market casualties. It said most of the bodies were of women and children, adding that the hospital has a significant shortage of medical teams, especially surgeons and nurses.

A video posted on social media by correspondent Nezar Bogdawi from Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV showed multiple body bags numbered and placed next to each other outside the hospital. The wounded being treated, some on the hospital floor, included a man with a chest wound, another with a leg injury, and a man with a head wound.

Last week, about 70 people were killed in a RSF attack on the only functional hospital in the besieged city of El Fasher in the western region of Darfur. The conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, has forced millions to flee their homes and has left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.

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