News in brief

At least 75 killed in paramilitary drone attack on mosque in Sudan

Saturday 20 September 2025 - 07:00

By: Sahili Aya

At least 75 killed in paramilitary drone attack on mosque in Sudan

At least 75 people were killed on Friday in a drone strike carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a mosque in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, according to local rescue workers. The attack targeted the al-Daraja neighborhood, where many displaced families had sought refuge after fleeing the overcrowded and famine-hit Abou Shouk camp.

Witnesses said that residents dug through the rubble with their bare hands to recover bodies for burial. With no burial shrouds available due to months of siege and violence, survivors were forced to use plastic bags.

El-Fasher is the last major city in Darfur still under army control, more than two years after the outbreak of the war between the Sudanese army and the RSF. If the city falls, the RSF would control the entire Darfur region, where the UN and humanitarian organizations have already denounced mass atrocities, often targeting specific ethnic communities.

Satellite images analyzed by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab confirm the RSF’s advance, including the takeover of the former UN-African Union peacekeeping base (UNAMID), now used by pro-army forces.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned of escalating ethnic violence and a worsening humanitarian crisis. Aid agencies fear mass killings if paramilitaries capture the city, particularly against non-Arab groups such as the Zaghawa, key supporters of the pro-army coalition.

El-Fasher, besieged for over 500 days, is home to around 260,000 civilians—half of them children—who face acute shortages of food, medicine, and humanitarian aid. The conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, creating what the UN describes as the world’s largest current humanitarian crisis.