A devastating attack on a bustling market in Omdurman, near Sudan’s capital, has resulted in a mortuary overflowing with bodies, according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are accused by both MSF and Sudanese authorities of launching the attack on Saturday, which led to over 100 casualties. However, the RSF has rejected these allegations.
The Sudanese Doctors’ Union reported that the majority of the victims at the market were women and children, highlighting the tragic toll on civilians. This incident is part of a broader conflict where the RSF and Sudan’s army have been engaged in a prolonged civil war for 22 months, causing immense human suffering and what the United Nations has labeled as one of the globe’s most severe humanitarian crises.
In recent weeks, the Sudanese army has intensified its efforts to reclaim Omdurman from RSF control, with the city sitting just across the River Nile from Khartoum. Eyewitnesses described to the AFP news agency that the shelling originated from RSF-held positions in western Omdurman.
Chris Lockyear, MSF’s general secretary, described the aftermath at Al Nao hospital as “utter carnage,” with the facility overwhelmed by the influx of injured people. The Sudanese Doctors’ Union issued an urgent call for medical reinforcements due to the “acute shortage of medical staff” at the hospital, which was further endangered by a shell landing just meters away from the facility.
A survivor of the attack shared with AFP that the shells struck directly in the heart of the vegetable market, explaining the high number of casualties. Both the RSF and the Sudanese army have faced accusations of targeting civilians and conducting indiscriminate shelling in residential areas, significantly impacting the local populace.
The violence has escalated to the point where emergency response rooms have had to close several health centers, severely hampering medical aid to thousands in need.
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