International Desk: At least 27 people, including an elderly man, were killed after armed fighters linked to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) allegedly targeted civilians in North Kordofan during Eid al-Adha, according to a humanitarian monitoring group.
The Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks violence across the country, said RSF-affiliated fighters launched attacks on villages in the Al-Murra area, west of Bara town in North Kordofan, on Thursday. The organisation condemned the assault, saying it had further deepened the suffering of civilians already trapped by Sudan’s devastating civil war.
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF escalated into a full-scale war. The Kordofan region has emerged as one of the conflict’s key battlegrounds, with fighting intensifying in recent months, including the growing use of drone warfare.
The RSF and allied groups control parts of Kordofan and West Darfur, areas rich in oil reserves and gold deposits and strategically important due to their proximity to South Sudan. Bara has witnessed repeated clashes between the army and RSF forces throughout the conflict.
The latest attacks occurred on the second day of Eid al-Adha (Bakrid). In a statement, the Sudan Doctors Network described the targeting of villages and civilians as a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law”.
Violence has continued to escalate across Sudan. Earlier this month, more than 61 people, including nine children, were killed in clashes involving fighters linked to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North and members of the Otoro tribe in South Kordofan. Last week, a drone strike on a market in central Sudan left 28 people dead.
According to estimates, the war has claimed at least 59,000 lives since April 2023, displaced nearly 13 million people, and pushed several regions into famine-like conditions. More than 30 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, making Sudan one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
