In the shadowed streets and battered shelters of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, a relentless siege has turned daily life into a struggle for survival. Over the past week, a series of drone and artillery attacks—attributed to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—have left the city’s already traumatized residents reeling. At least 60 people were killed in a single strike on a shelter for displaced families, according to local activists and medical groups, as the RSF intensified its campaign to seize the army’s last bastion in Darfur.
The carnage unfolded late Friday night and into Saturday morning, October 10 and 11, 2025, when the shelter—known as al-Arqam Home and located at Omdurman Islamic University—became the latest target in a conflict marked by escalating brutality. The Sudan Doctors’ Network, a coalition of medical professionals tracking the war, reported that among the dead were at least 14 children and 15 women. Twenty-one others were wounded, including five children and seven women, most suffering serious injuries. “This massacre represents a continuation of the scorched-earth policy practiced by the Rapid Support Forces against civilians, in flagrant violation of all international norms and laws,” the group said, as reported by the Associated Press.
Activists from the Al-Fashir Resistance Committee provided a harrowing account: “Bodies remain under the rubble, and others were burned alive inside the shelter caravans, children, women, and elderly killed in cold blood.” The committee said the shelter was struck twice by drones and eight times by artillery shells, and that the city is losing an average of 30 people daily to violence, hunger, and disease. Residents have resorted to digging bunkers into their homes and neighborhoods, desperate for protection from the relentless bombardment, according to Reuters.
The RSF, however, has denied responsibility for civilian casualties in El-Fasher, calling the reports “entirely baseless” in a statement released late Saturday. Yet, the devastation is hard to ignore, with the Mashad Organization, a rights group, describing the attack as “one of the most atrocious massacres” since the RSF began its offensive on the city more than a year ago. They went so far as to call it “an act of genocide carried out before the eyes of a silent world.”
El-Fasher, once a bustling provincial capital, has become the epicenter of Sudan’s grinding two-year conflict between the military and the RSF. Since July, the RSF has imposed a total blockade on the city, isolating some 260,000 civilians after most of the population fled earlier waves of violence. Hunger is rampant, and outbreaks of disease—including cholera—have spread through the makeshift camps and ruined neighborhoods, according to United Nations officials.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) painted a grim picture of the city’s deteriorating medical infrastructure. The RSF reportedly opened fire on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week at the Saudi hospital and a local mosque, both of which were serving as refuges for displaced families. The Saudi hospital, OCHA noted, “is the last functioning medical facility in the city, serving thousands of war-affected people.”
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a rare and pointed condemnation of the attack, describing it as “heinous” and reiterating the Kingdom’s rejection of violence against civilians. In a press statement, the ministry called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, the safeguarding of Sudan’s unity and institutions, and the protection of civilians in line with the commitments outlined in the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, signed on May 11, 2023. “Saudi Arabia extended its sincere condolences and sympathy to the families of the deceased and wished the injured a speedy recovery,” reported the Saudi Gazette.
Estimates of the death toll from the most recent attacks vary slightly among sources. While the Sudan Doctors’ Network cited at least 53 fatalities, including 14 children and 15 women, the Al-Fashir Resistance Committee and other local activists put the number at 60 or more. The Saudi Gazette reported at least 57 dead, including 22 women and 17 children, in the Thursday attack alone. Despite the discrepancies, all sources agree that the majority of the victims were women and children—underscoring the devastating impact on the city’s most vulnerable.
The violence in El-Fasher is not an isolated tragedy. It is part of a broader conflict that erupted in April 2023, when simmering tensions between Sudan’s military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in the capital, Khartoum, and quickly spread across the country. Since then, tens of thousands have been killed, more than 14 million people have been displaced from their homes, and parts of Sudan have been pushed to the brink of famine. The International Criminal Court continues to investigate reports of mass killings and rape, which may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Despite the mounting toll, the RSF has maintained its offensive, determined to wrest control of El-Fasher from the army. The city’s strategic significance—both as the last government stronghold in Darfur and as a symbol of resistance—has made it a focal point for both sides. But for the civilians trapped inside, the stakes are heartbreakingly personal. “Hundreds of civilians have been killed by the attacks,” the Al-Fashir Resistance Committee said, and the daily loss of life from violence, hunger, and disease continues to climb.
International condemnation has grown in recent days, but so far, diplomatic efforts have failed to halt the bloodshed. The commitments made in the Jeddah Declaration, which called for the protection of civilians and humanitarian access, remain largely unfulfilled. The United Nations and aid organizations warn that without immediate action, the humanitarian crisis in El-Fasher could spiral even further out of control.
For now, the people of El-Fasher endure under siege—digging bunkers, mourning their dead, and clinging to hopes that the world will not remain silent forever. As the violence intensifies and the city’s lifelines are cut off, their plight has become a stark reminder of the human cost of Sudan’s war, and of the urgent need for peace, justice, and accountability.
