Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been at war with the RSF, who have seized nearly the entire vast western region of Darfur [Getty]
More than 70 people have been killed in a drone strike on one of the last functioning hospitals in western’s Sudan’s Darfur, the region’s governor has said.
The strike targeted the Saudi Hospital in the city of Al-Fashir, destroying its emergency building.
Darfur’s governor Minni Minawi has blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the attack.
“A Rapid Support [Forces] drone targeted the Saudi Hospital – the emergency department – the only remaining section (that was left for them) to target,” Minawi wrote in a post on X, sharing images of destruction and pools of blood at the hospital.
They “killed all the patients that were inside, numbered at more than 70 and including women, children and others. Shame on the supporters of these b**tard terrorists. They have surpassed the Islamic State group in their behaviour,” he added.
The Al-Fashir Resistance Committee, which has been helping in relief efforts since the current Sudanese war began, had said in a statement earlier on Saturday that 67 people were killed and dozens more were injured. The exact death toll is unclear.
The committee confirmed that the hospital’s emergency department was destroyed and “completely out of service.”
Earlier this month, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said the Saudi Hospital was “the only public hospital with surgical capacity still standing.”
The emergency building had reportedly been hit by an RSF drone previously. Images were shared online earlier this month allegedly showing surgeons operating in the dark at the hospital after clashes led to a power cut across Al-Fashir.
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been at war with the RSF, who have seized nearly the entire vast western region of Darfur.
They have besieged Al-Fashir, the state capital of North Darfur, since May, but have not managed to claim the city, where army-aligned militias have repeatedly pushed them back.
Last week, they issued an ultimatum demanding army forces and allies leave the city by Wednesday afternoon in advance of an expected offensive.
Local activists have reported intermittent fighting since, including repeated artillery fire from the RSF on the famine-hit Abu Shouk displacement camp.
On Friday morning alone, heavy shelling killed eight people in the camp, according to civil society group the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees.
The United Nations has voiced alarm, calling on both parties to ensure the protection of the city’s civilian population – some two million people.
The war has so far killed tens of thousands – with no accurate data available – uprooted more than 12 million and brought millions to the brink of mass starvation, currently constituting the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
