RSF drone strike on Al-Fashir camp kills 75, escalating Sudan war
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A drone strike by Sudan's Rapid Support Forces killed at least 75 people at a displacement camp mosque near Al-Fashir, marking a deadly escalation in the Darfur conflict.
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Smoke billows after drone strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted the northern port in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo, File)
A drone strike carried out by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed at least 75 people on Friday at a displacement camp near the city of Al-Fashir in North Darfur, according to local rescue workers.
The attack targeted a mosque within the Abu Shouk camp, located just outside the besieged city. The Emergency Response Room, a local volunteer group managing relief efforts in the camp, confirmed the strike and the number of casualties.
"The bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the mosque," the group said in a statement.
There has been no immediate comment from the RSF regarding the incident.
Al-Fashir, the last army-held city in Darfur, has been under RSF siege for nearly 18 months. The fall of the city would give the RSF full territorial control over Darfur. The United Nations and rights organizations have already reported widespread atrocities in the region, including ethnically motivated killings.
The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, ongoing since April 2023, has devastated the country and plunged Darfur deeper into chaos.
Read more: Half a million Sudanese return to Khartoum in one month despite war
Rapid Support Forces advance on key military bases
According to satellite imagery released by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, RSF units have advanced on multiple fronts around Al-Fashir. The analysis showed movement near the Abu Shouk camp and the former UNAMID peacekeeping base, now occupied by anti-RSF Joint Forces.
The Joint Forces, a coalition of former Darfur rebel groups, allied with the Sudanese army in late 2023 following mass killings of the Masalit tribe in El-Geneina, capital of West Darfur state.
Yale’s analysis indicates that the RSF likely captured the former UNAMID compound by Thursday afternoon. An RSF official, speaking anonymously to AFP, claimed: "By around 2:00 pm (Thursday), our forces had taken full control of the UNAMID base."
Between Monday and Wednesday, satellite images showed widespread destruction of buildings near Abu Shouk. Eyewitnesses reported that RSF fighters now control large parts of the famine-stricken camp, located just three kilometers north of the UNAMID base.
This places both the Al-Fashir airport, the army’s operational hub, and the 6th Division headquarters within direct RSF firing range.
Read more: Sudan’s RSF committed ‘myriad crimes against humanity’: UN probe
Sudan war pushes millions into crisis
With communication lines severed in Al-Fashir, casualty reports remain difficult to verify, and aid coordination efforts face critical delays.
The Sudan war, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 12 million people. The United Nations has described the situation as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
The country remains deeply divided: the army controls the north, east, and central regions, while the RSF dominates much of the south and most of Darfur. In the areas under its control, the RSF has started to establish parallel administrative structures, further complicating the conflict.
