Investigation reveals campaign of ethnically motivated atrocities by Al Burhan’s troops in Sudan

Satellite imagery, verified videos and testimonies indicate widespread abuses by SAF and allied Islamist-backed militias

A report by investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports, conducted in collaboration with CNN, has uncovered a campaign of ethnically motivated atrocities carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) mainly targeting non-Arab communities.

It revealed mass killings of civilians in Al Jazira state, south of Khartoum, by troops and allied Islamist-backed militias, with the knowledge of SAF chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan.

"Lighthouse Reports and CNN spoke to several high-level sources who all indicated that the orders for the campaign came from the highest ranks of SAF and influential Islamists who exert pressure on SAF leadership," said Lighthouse Reports.

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The civil war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

Mr Al Burhan, who is sanctioned by the US and accused of allowing his troops to use chemical weapons, has rejected calls for a ceasefire and vowed to keep fighting until the RSF is defeated. His troops have long been linked to Islamist-backed figures and influence within Sudan’s security apparatus.

Satellite imagery, verified videos and testimony from whistleblowers and serving security officers indicate that abuses by the SAF have been widespread but largely unreported in the civil war, with the focus mainly on atrocities committed by the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

"Lighthouse Reports and CNN can reveal evidence of the Sudanese Armed Forces’ systematic targeting of civilians" in Al Jazira state "on an ethnic basis", wrote Lighthouse Reports.

"In early 2025, after more than a year under the occupation of the RSF, the central city of Wad Madani [..] was retaken by SAF. SAF announced a cleanup operation of the city and surrounding rebel pockets. In reality, the Sudanese Armed Forces and Islamist-backed allied militias, including the Sudan Shield Forces, used the operation in Madani as a pretext to launch an operation targeting non-Arab civilians," it added.

'Immediately shot'

Attacks on these communities began in October 2024 in the lead-up to the campaign to retake Wad Madani and continued for several months after SAF regained the city.

People stand near a tank after Sudan's army entered Wad Madani, in Sudan. Reuters

The investigation documented killings targeting particularly residents of so-called Kanabi farming settlements. Sudanese farmers in Al Jazira state are known as the Kanabi, a farming community largely of non-Arab Sudanese descent. Much of this community is from Darfur and Kordofan.

Evidence includes bodies thrown into canals, civilians buried in mass graves and villages burned. “Anyone who appeared to be Nuba, from western Sudan or from the south was immediately shot,” a Sudanese Armed Forces officer was quoted as saying.

Four serving security officers said the violence was co-ordinated from senior levels of the security apparatus. An official within Sudan’s intelligence services was involved in organising attacks in Al Jazira state. One of the officers said army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan was informed of the killings.

Multiple verified videos showed abuses in a village called Kariba, where young men were detained and assaulted after being accused of affiliation with the rival RSF.

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Other videos were geolocated near a bridge where a massacre later took place, close to Wad Madani. Footage showed clashes followed by the killing of civilians and armed men. In one video, a man is seen being beaten by fighters before being shot. Many people detained during the operations remain missing, according to witnesses and security sources.

Footage from the following day showed fighting at the same intersection and bodies being removed. However, within hours, a new video from the same location showed later on more than 50 civilian bodies, many with gunshot wounds to the head. In one clip, a fighter claims the victims were “foreign”.

Under international law, the execution of civilians constitutes a war crime.

"Using a three-source standard, we confirmed 59 verified [..] attacks between October 2024 and May 2025. An additional 87 attacks were reported across our collected interviews and open sources. We also verified and geolocated over 50 videos documenting SAF presence, attacks against civilians during the police bridge massacre, and attacks on kambos, including arson and mass graves," explained Lighthouse Reports.

'Harrowing picture'

A Sudanese intelligence officer said that civilians killed at the intersection were buried in mass graves alongside RSF fighters. Satellite imagery showed five disturbed patches of earth, followed by white objects resembling body bags, later covered with soil.

A whistleblower from Sudan’s intelligence services stated that some people accused of collaborating with the RSF were shot and thrown into a nearby canal, while others were thrown in while still alive.

Sudanese training to join the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Khartoum. AFP

A later video from the village of Bika shows bodies visible in a canal after water levels dropped. The bodies were located metres from where Al Burhan was filmed during an earlier visit to the area.

The investigation found that the violence extended beyond individual incidents, with attacks documented in at least 39 villages along the road to Wad Madani. “They agreed they don’t want black" men, one survivor said. Another added that bodies regularly appeared in the canal near her village.

The UN has warned of ethnic cleansing in Sudan, accusations more often directed at the RSF, but rights groups say accountability for abuses committed by all sides in the conflict remains limited.

"The verification of hundreds of videos, satellite imagery analysis and exclusive, on-the-ground interviews with SAF whistleblowers and survivors of attacks in different kambos reveals a harrowing picture of a targeted military campaign against civilians, the unleashing of undisciplined SAF-aligned paramilitary groups, and hurried efforts to hide evidence of their crimes," said Lighthouse Reports.