Sudan’s RSF shells hospital, abducts 8 in El-Fasher: rescuers
Since losing Khartoum in March, the RSF has stepped up attacks on El-Fasher / AP
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled a hospital in North Darfur’s besieged city of El-Fasher and abducted six women and two children from a displacement camp, rescuers and medics said on Sunday.
El-Fasher, the last major city in western Darfur still under army control, has been under RSF siege for more than a year. The city remains a flashpoint in the war that broke out in April 2023 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The Emergency Response Room at Abu Shouk camp reported that RSF fighters stormed the site on Sunday, seizing eight civilians — including a 40-day-old baby and a three-year-old child — and taking them to an undisclosed location. More than 20 camp residents were also reported missing, with rescuers warning the figure could rise.
Abu Shouk, home to tens of thousands of displaced people, has suffered repeated assaults this month. The first attack left more than 40 people dead, according to first responders.
Meanwhile, RSF artillery fire struck El-Fasher’s emergency and trauma hospital unit on Saturday, wounding seven people, including a staff member, a doctor told AFP. Bombardments continued into Sunday morning, damaging the emergency ward and forcing a suspension of operations. The hospital is one of only three still functioning in the city.
Abu Shouk is among three camps outside El-Fasher where famine was declared late in 2024. The United Nations has warned famine could spread to the city itself, though a lack of data has delayed a formal declaration.
The conflict, which has killed tens of thousands, has created what the UN calls the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
