Sudan: Villagers flee in fear after rebel attack kills 150

CNN
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At least 150 people have been killed and 200 injured in a rebel attack in Sudan, local officials and witnesses said, the latest atrocity in the years-long war that has displaced more than seven million people.

Eyewitnesses told CNN on Thursday how fighters from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) invaded the village of Wad al-Nour in the central state of Al-Jazira on Wednesday.

They described scenes of terror and carnage as more than 40 armed vehicles stormed the village and unleashed heavy weapons on the residents. Most of the victims were civilians, including children and women.

Fighting is still ongoing just a few kilometers away and frightened villagers fear further escalation, the witness said.

Another eyewitness reported that it is still a difficult task to count the dead and injured. “So far we have buried more than 120 people in a mass grave in the middle of the village,” he said.

CNN cannot independently confirm the exact number of victims.

In footage shared on social media on Wednesday and geolocated by CNN, a large crowd can be seen in the village of Wad Al-Noura surrounding dozens of bodies wrapped in white shrouds as preparations are made for their burial.

Another video allegedly shows the RSF militia firing heavy and medium weapons at the village.

Both the Sudanese army and the RSF have faced damning allegations of massacres of civilians since the civil war broke out in April 2023.

The RSF confirmed the attack in a statement on Wednesday, saying it was a preemptive strike on the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) camps in Wad Al-Noura in response to a planned army attack. It did not confirm the reported civilian deaths.

According to the RSF, eight of its fighters were killed and others injured in the operation. They also captured vehicles, weapons and military equipment.

However, eyewitnesses told CNN that there was no military presence in the village, adding that the Sudanese army operates a military base about 30 kilometers southwest of Wad Al-Noura, which was cited as a possible reason for the attack.

CNN has contacted both RSF and the Sudanese army for comment.

The SAF leader vowed retaliation after arriving in a town near the attack where he visited survivors, according to state news agency SUNA. “The response to the militia’s crimes against the martyrs of (Wad al-Nour) will be harsh and cruel,” warned Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander-in-chief of the SAF and president of the Sudanese Transitional Council for Sovereignty.

The village of Wad al-Nour, located about 160 kilometers south of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, is the latest epicenter of violence in a country plagued by internal conflict.

The village has long been a strategic target for the RSF due to its proximity to Al-Manaqil, where the Sudanese army maintains its only presence in Al-Jazira state.

This was not the first attempt by the RSF to control Wad al-Noura. They had already tried to take the village several times.

Thousands have died since fighting broke out between the forces of two rival generals – army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the SAF, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the RSF.

Since the beginning of the conflict, both the Sudanese army and the RSF have faced serious allegations of massacres of the civilian population.

According to eyewitnesses, the RSF has targeted villages in Al-Jazira, Sudan’s agricultural heartland, to bolster its ranks through forced recruitment and the use of starvation as a weapon.

In March, witnesses told CNN that the militia had forcibly recruited more than 700 people, including dozens of children, from the state after they were ordered to “report or die.” RSF denied this claim.

International outcry and humanitarian crisis

The Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council condemned the RSF’s actions, describing them as part of a systematic campaign of violence against civilians.

“This heinous crime is one of a series of crimes committed by this rebel militia in many countries in Sudan. These are criminal acts that reflect the systematic actions of these militias, which deliberately target civilians, loot their property and forcibly expel them from their territories,” the council said.

A UN representative on Thursday expressed deep concern about the reported violence and called for a thorough investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable.

“Even by the tragic standards of the conflict in Sudan, the images from Wad Al-Noura are heartbreaking. Wars have rules that must be respected no matter what,” said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned: “The number of people displaced by the conflict in Sudan could exceed the ten million mark in the coming days.”

“The world’s worst internal displacement crisis continues to worsen, with the devastation caused by conflict compounded by the threat of famine and disease,” the IOM said in a statement on Thursday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs found that more than 8.8 million people have fled their homes and 24.8 million are in urgent need of assistance.

Last week, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu warned the UN Security Council: “The situation today has all the signs of a risk of genocide and there are strong allegations that this crime has already been committed.”

CNN’s Avery Schmitz contributed to this report.