North Darfur airstrike kills over 100, says Sudan lawyers
More than 100 people were killed in a Sudanese military airstrike in North Darfur on December 9th, a pro-democracy lawyers’ group said, according to The Guardian.
The emergency lawyers group said on December 10th that the strike also injured hundreds in Kabkabiya, a town about 110 miles (180km) west of state capital El Fasher that has been under siege from militia group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since May.
“The airstrike took place on the town’s weekly market day, where residents from various nearby villages had gathered to shop, resulting in the death of more than 100 people and injury of hundreds, including women and children,” said the lawyers’ group.
It described a “horrendous massacre committed by army airstrikes”, though Sudan’s military denied cupability, saying in a statement that “lies” were being spread spread by pro-RSF political parties, adding it would continue “exercising its legitimate right to defend the country”.
People were seen sifting through rubble as the charred remains of children lay on scorched ground in footage sent to AFP purporting to show the aftermath of the December 9th strike.
Civil society group the Darfur general coordination of camps for the displaced and refugees supplied the footage, though AFP has not been able to verify its accuracy.
READ: UN condemns shelling of Sudan camp
The lawyers’ group said in a separate incident on the evening of December 9th, three neighbourhoods were hit with barrel bombs in Nyala, South Darfur’s capital, without reporting casualties.
Around the size of France, Darfur is home to about a quarter of Sudan’s population but more than half of its 10 million inhabitants have been displaced.
A UN-backed report in July said famine had taken hold in a major North Darfur refugee camp following a months-long RSF siege which blocked almost all trade and aid access.
Almost 26 million people, about half the population, face the threat of starvation across the countru, with both sides accused of using hunger as a weapon of war.
The lawyers’ group said it condemned “in the strongest terms the horrendous massacres committed by army airstrikes” in Kabkabiya.
The group flagged another incident in North Kordofan state in which a drone that had crashed on November 26th exploded on the evening of December 9th, killing six people.
It said recent strikes across the country were part of an “escalation campaign…. deliberately concentrated on densely populated residential areas”, contradicting warring parties claim’s that they only target military objectives.
READ: Sudanese army recaptures town from militia
The army and the RSF have been accused of indiscriminately targeting civilians and deliberately bombing residential areas.
Human Rights Watch accused the RSF and allies of carrying out numerous abuses against civilians in South Kordofan state from December 2023 to March 2024.
They accused the groups of “war crimes” including “killings, rapes, and abductions of ethnic Nuba residents, as well as the looting and destruction of homes,” and urged the UN and the African Union to deploy a mission to protect Sudanese civilians.
The Guardian
