ALBAWABA- At least 40 people were killed in an assault by the Rapid Support Forces on a camp for displaced people in Sudan’s western Darfur region, an aid group operating in the area reported on Monday.
According to BBC, the Abu Shouk Emergency Response Room said the attack on the Abu Shouk camp was carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group locked in a two-year civil war with the Sudanese army. The local resistance committee in nearby El-Fasher also confirmed the incident.
El-Fasher, the last major stronghold in Darfur for the army and its allied forces, has faced heavy bombardment in recent days. The United Nations has warned that residents trapped in the besieged city risk starvation as fighting intensifies.
Abu Shouk camp, home to around 200,000 people, was reportedly caught in crossfire, but aid workers said many victims were deliberately targeted, shot inside their homes or gunned down in public.
The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, which analyses satellite imagery, said it detected around 40 light vehicles in the camp’s north-western neighbourhoods, supporting claims that the assault came from the north.
The lab is investigating footage allegedly showing RSF fighters shooting civilians as they crawled away, while using ethnic slurs.
Established more than two decades ago, Abu Shouk shelters non-Arab communities such as the Fur and Zaghawa who fled earlier attacks by the Janjaweed militia, the force from which the RSF evolved.
The RSF has been accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Darfur, charges it denies, claiming it is not involved in tribal conflicts.
Zaghawa fighters have joined the army in defending El-Fasher, raising concerns that the attack may have deliberately targeted Zaghawa civilians.
Camps near El-Fasher have been repeatedly hit during the war; in April, more than 100 people were killed when the RSF overran the Zamzam camp.
