Rapid Support Forces drone strike kills scores of people at mosque in Sudan

"A drone strike by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher has killed 75 people worshipping in a mosque, first responders have said, as the group continued its push to capture the last foothold of Sudan's army in the Darfur region. The attack, one of the deadliest this year in the city, hit the city's al-Daraja neighbourhood, where civilians from the famine-hit Abu Shouk displacement camp had fled after it was overrun by fighters . The bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the mosque, said the Emergency Response Room volunteer group. Social media videos show bodies trapped under rubble and debris."

"RSF has not commented on the incident. The paramilitary group has been engaged in a raging civil war with the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023 but since the army's capture of the capital, Khartoum, in March, the RSF has been fighting to maintain territorial dominance of Darfur, its stronghold. El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, is the last remaining capital in the region controlled by the Sudanese army and has been under siege for more than a year. Research from Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab shows RSF is building an earthen wall around it to trap people inside. Satellite imagery released by the lab on Thursday showed RSF forces advancing in many areas, including around the Abu Shouk camp and the former peacekeeping base for United Nations-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (Unamid), now used by anti-RSF joint forces."

A drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces killed 75 people worshipping in a mosque in El Fasher. The strike hit the al-Daraja neighbourhood where civilians who fled the overrun Abu Shouk displacement camp had taken shelter. Emergency responders recovered bodies from mosque rubble and social media footage showed victims trapped under debris. RSF has not commented and has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023 while seeking to retain dominance in Darfur. Satellite imagery shows RSF advances and construction of an earthen wall around El Fasher amid sustained artillery and drone assaults.

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