A Sudanese military airstrike on a crowded market in North Darfur has killed more than 100 people and left hundreds others injured.
A pro-democracy lawyers’ group, Emergency Lawyers said the strike, which occurred on Monday in Kabkabiya, marked one of the deadliest attacks in Sudan’s 20-month conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“The airstrike took place on the town’s weekly market day, where residents from various nearby villages had gathered to shop, resulting in the death of more than 100 people and injury of hundreds, including women and children,” the Emergency Lawyers said.
The group is renowned for documenting human rights abuses during the war affecting the beleaguered country.
Kabkabiya, located approximately 180 kilometers west of El-Fasher, has been under RSF siege since May, exacerbating the region’s humanitarian crisis.
Footage shared with AFP by the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees purportedly shows the aftermath of the airstrike, with residents searching through rubble and charred remains of children visible on scorched ground.
The American agency although said it could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.
In addition to the Kabkabiya airstrike, barrel bombs reportedly targeted three neighborhoods in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on Monday evening.
The lawyers’ group did not report casualties from this attack.
The group also highlighted an incident in North Kordofan state, where a crashed drone exploded on Monday evening, killing six people.
“These recent strikes across Sudan are part of an ‘escalation campaign’ deliberately concentrated on densely populated residential areas,’” the group said, contradicting claims by both the Sudanese army and RSF that their operations target military locations.
The war, which killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, plunged Sudan into one of the worst humanitarian crises in its history.
Darfur, a region home to a quarter of Sudan’s population, now accounts for more than half of the country’s 10 million displaced people.
A United Nations-backed report in July revealed that famine had taken hold in a major refugee camp in North Darfur following months of RSF siege that cut off trade and aid access.
Nearly 26 million people, half of Sudan’s population are faced with starvation, with both sides accused of using hunger as a weapon of war.
The Emergency Lawyers group condemned the airstrikes, calling them “horrendous massacres” and urging accountability.
Last week, UN humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher called for urgent international action, describing the situation as dire.
“These numbers are staggering, and we cannot turn our backs,” he said after meeting refugees who had fled the conflict.
Fletcher also warned of the war’s devastating impact on civilians, with reports of indiscriminate bombings, deliberate targeting of residential areas, and atrocities committed by warring sides.