At least 56 people were killed and 158 others wounded after artillery shells struck a bustling vegetable market in Omdurman, Sudan’s Health Ministry confirmed on Sunday.
The attack, blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has been described as one of the deadliest in recent weeks, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis gripping the war-torn nation.
Khalid al-Aleisir, Sudan’s Minister of Culture and government spokesperson, strongly condemned the assault, saying the casualties included a significant number of women and children. “This criminal act adds to the bloody record of this militia,” he stated. “It constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Eyewitnesses reported that the shelling originated from western Omdurman, a stronghold of the RSF, and was supported by drone strikes.
“The shells fell in the middle of the vegetable market, that’s why there are so many victims and wounded,” one survivor told AFP. Another resident described the relentless bombardment, saying rockets and artillery shells rained down on multiple streets simultaneously.
Medical staff at the nearby Al-Nao Hospital were overwhelmed with casualties. “We are in dire need of shrouds, blood donors, and stretchers to transport the wounded,” a hospital volunteer said, as more injured people continued to arrive.
Fighting spreads beyond Omdurman
In a separate incident in Khartoum, two civilians were killed and dozens wounded in an air raid targeting an RSF-controlled area, according to the local Emergency Response Room (ERR), a volunteer group assisting with emergency care.
The violence comes a day after RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo vowed to recapture Khartoum from the army. “We expelled them before, and we will expel them again,” he said in a rare video address.
Country in crisis
Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023 following tensions over the integration of the RSF into the national army. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions displaced, and the country pushed to the brink of famine.
The conflict has devastated the capital, where entire neighborhoods have been abandoned or taken over by fighters. The United Nations estimates that at least 3.6 million people have fled Khartoum, while over 106,000 are suffering from famine, with an additional 3.2 million facing crisis levels of hunger.
