RSF shelling 'kills 10 civilians' in Sudanese capital Khartoum

Eleven people were wounded in the artillery strikes

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces struck a mosque and civilian buildings in Khartoum on Tuesday. AFP

Artillery shelling by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces struck a mosque and other civilian buildings in the country's capital of Khartoum, killing 10 people on Tuesday.

A local resistance committee said “10 civilians were killed and 11 wounded in artillery shelling by the Rapid Support Forces in Al Samrab neighbourhood”, across the Blue Nile river to the north of central Khartoum.

It is the latest incident in which several civilians have been killed in Khartoum during nearly six months of war between Sudan's army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo.

The committee is one of many groups that used to organise pro-democracy protests and now provide assistance during the war.

“Some shells fell on a mosque, a health centre and citizens' homes,” AFP reported, citing the committee in the eastern city of Port Sudan.

On September 12, a medical source told AFP that “17 civilians were killed” by paramilitaries in northern Khartoum, where witnesses reported RSF shelling.

Those deaths came two days after at least 51 people were killed and dozens wounded in air strikes on a southern Khartoum market, according to UN human rights chief Volker Turk.

The worst of the violence has been concentrated in Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, but North Kordofan – a crossroads between the capital and Darfur – has also seen fighting.

About 7,500 people have been killed in Sudan since the conflict broke out on April 15, according to a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.

Battles have displaced about 4.3 million people within Sudan, in addition to around 1.2 million more who have fled across borders, UN figures show.

Updated: October 04, 2023, 4:30 AM