On Sunday, at least 56 people were killed and 158 injured when a shell struck a crowded vegetable market in Omdurman, Sudan’s Health Ministry confirmed.
The attack, blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has been defined as one of the deadliest in recent weeks and has further exacerbated the humanitarian crises in the war-ravaged country.
Sudan’s Minister of Culture and government spokesperson, Khalid al-Aleisir strongly condemned the attack, pointing out that many of the victims were women and children. “This criminal act adds to the bloody record of this militia,” he stated. “It constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
According to the eyewitnesses, the shelling originated from the western Omdurman, RSF-controlled area and was accompanied by drone strikes.
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“The shells fell in the middle of the vegetable market, that’s why there are so many victims and wounded,” one survivor told AFP. Another resident described the constant bombardment, saying rockets and artillery shells rained down on multiple streets simultaneously.
Medical staff at the nearby Al Nao Hospital struggled to manage many patients. A hospital volunteer said, “We are in dire need of shrouds, blood donors and stretchers to transport the wounded.”
According to the local Emergency Response Room (ERR), in another incident in Khartoum, two civilians were killed and dozens injured in airstrikes in an area controlled by the RSF.
The violence occurred just a day after RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo vowed to retake Khartoum from the army. “We expelled them before, and we will expel them again,” he said in a rare video message.
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