Sudan’s paramilitary fighters killed 85 people in an attack on a central village, residents say

CAIRO —  Fighters from Sudan’s paramilitary group rampaged through a central village, burning and looting and killing at least 85 people, including women and children, according to authorities and residents, the latest atrocity in the country’s 18-month devastating conflict.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began attacking Galgani in the central province of Sennar late in July and last week the fighters “indiscriminately opened fire on the village’s unarmed residents” after they resisted attempts to abduct and sexually assault women and girls, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. More than 150 villagers were wounded, it said.

The RSF has been repeatedly accused of massacres, rapes and other violations across the country since the war started in April 2023, when simmering tensions between the military and the group exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere.

Describing the hours-long attack over the weekend, three residents said hundreds of RSF fighters had stormed the village Thursday, looting and burning houses and public properties.

The offensive came after the residents put up resistance and repelled an attack by a small group of RSF fighters, according to a healthcare worker at the local medical center.

The small group retreated, then hundreds of RSF fighters returned in dozens of pickup trucks with automatic rifles and heavy weapons, according to the worker and another resident.

The medical center had received at least 80 bodies as of Friday, including 24 women and minors, said the worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for his safety.

Villager Mohamed Tajal-Amin said he saw seven bodies — six men and one woman — lying in the street midday Friday.

“The janjaweed are in the street and people are not able to recover their dead and bury them,” he said, using the name of the Arab militias that became synonymous with genocide and war crimes in Darfur two decades ago. The RSF grew out of the militias.

RSF spokespeople didn’t return requests for comment over the weekend.

In June, the RSF assaulted Sinnar’s provincial capital, Singa, about 215 miles southeast of Khartoum. They looted the city’s main market and took over its main hospital, forcing thousands of people to flee.

The latest attack came as the United States led efforts to resume peace talks between the military and the RSF. The talks in Switzerland were boycotted by the military.

The talks were the latest international effort to settle the devastating conflict that killed thousands of people. Famine was confirmed last month in a sprawling camp for displaced people in the western region of Darfur.

The conflict has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations and international rights groups.

Sudan’s war has also created the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 10.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began, according to the International Organization for Migration. More than 2 million of them have fled to neighboring countries.

In Sudan, the conflict has wrecked civilian infrastructure and an already battered healthcare system. Many hospitals and medical facilities have closed their doors. Amid this, a cholera outbreak has killed nearly two dozen people and sickened hundreds more in recent weeks, health authorities said Sunday.

Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim said in a statement that at least 22 people have died from the disease, and that at least 354 confirmed cases of cholera have been detected across the country.

Ibrahim didn’t give a time frame for the deaths or the tally since the start of the year. The World Health Organization, however, said that 78 deaths were recorded from cholera this year in Sudan as of July 28. The disease also sickened more than 2,400 others between Jan. 1 and July 28, it said.

Cholera is a fast-developing, highly contagious infection that causes diarrhea, leading to severe dehydration and possible death within hours when not treated, according to the WHO. It is transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water.

Magdy writes for the Associated Press.