Volkswacht Bodensee - Monitor accuses Sudan army of major strike on Darfur market

Both the Emergency Lawyers group of volunteer legal professionals and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said the attack in the western region of Darfur caused hundreds of casualties.

It comes days after the army reclaimed the presidential palace in Khartoum -- a major victory against the RSF.

The lawyers, who document atrocities on both sides of Sudan's war, said army warplanes carried out "an indiscriminate air strike on Tora market in North Darfur, killing hundreds of civilians and seriously wounding dozens".

The RSF, which controls nearly all of Darfur where the United States has accused it of committing genocide, said the "massacre" on Monday "killed and wounded hundreds".

A spokesperson for the Emergency Lawyers, requesting anonymity for their safety, told AFP an exact toll was not immediately possible "due to the large number of charred bodies" being counted and identified.

AFP could not independently verify a toll or reach local medics due to a telecommunications blackout in Darfur.

The army, which has been fighting the RSF in the conflict since April 2023, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Footage shared on social media in the aftermath of the strike purportedly showed what appeared to be charred bodies on burnt ground, with piles of debris still smoking.

AFP was unable to independently verify the footage from the Monday market, where residents of nearby towns flock every week.

In nearly two years, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted more than 12 million and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

- Civilian toll -

Amid the near-total breakdown of Sudan's healthcare system, exact tolls have been difficult to confirm since the war began.

The United States’ former Sudan envoy Tom Perriello in May last year said some estimates were as high as 150,000 killed.

Across the country, attacks on markets, villages and displacement camps have regularly left over 100 dead at a time.

In December, the lawyers' group reported a similar army air strike on a North Darfur market that killed over 100, with the United Nations confirming a toll of "at least 80".

Last month, a three-day RSF assault on central Sudan villages claimed hundreds of lives, with the army-backed government giving a toll of 433, while the monitor said over 200 were killed.

Darfur, a vast region the size of France, has faced some of the war's worst violence, including reports of barrel bombs on civilian areas, paramilitary attacks on famine-hit displacement camps and rampant ethnic violence.

Though the paramilitary has deployed highly equipped drones in Darfur, the army retains the advantage in the skies with its warplanes, regularly striking RSF positions across the region.

North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, east of Tora, is the only regional state capital the RSF has not conquered, despite besieging the city for ten months and regularly attacking the displacement camps that surround it.

According to analysts, the RSF is likely to intensify its campaign to consolidate its hold on the region, following its defeats in Khartoum.

The army on Friday recaptured the presidential palace and a clearing operation has since pushed RSF fighters out of key state institutions in central Khartoum.

Since the war began, both sides have been accused of targeting civilians, including indiscriminately shelling markets and residential neighbourhoods.

The RSF has specifically been accused of ethnically motivated mass killing, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

G.Schmid--VB