Sudanese activists speak of '40 dead' in bombing near Khartoum

Pro-democracy activists in Sudan reported Friday that around 40 people were killed in “heavy artillery fire” carried out the day before by paramilitary forces on Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city.

“So far, the death toll is estimated at 40 civilians and there are more than 50 injured, some seriously,” the Karari Resistance Committee said in a statement posted on social media, attributing the bombings to the rapid support paramilitary forces, or RSF.

“There is still no accurate count of the number of victims in Omdurman,” said the organization, one of hundreds of similar pro-democracy groups across Sudan that are coordinating aid.

“Most of the dead arrived at Al Nao University Hospital, others in private hospitals or were buried by their families,” the group added.

The strikes come a day after RSF was accused of killing more than 104 people, including 35 children, in an attack on Wednesday on the village of Wad al-Noura, in Al-Jazeera state, south of Khartoum.

Sudan has been ravaged by war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the army, led by military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

In just over a year, the war has claimed thousands of lives, with some estimates putting the death toll at 150,000, according to the US envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello.

Since the start of the war, more than seven million people have fled their homes to seek refuge in other parts of Sudan, adding to the 2.8 million already displaced by previous conflicts in the country of 48 million. 'residents.

Fighting continues daily across the country, including in the capital, with both sides accused of war crimes, including deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate bombing of residential areas and blocking humanitarian aid.