Sudan Refugee Shelter Hit by Airstrike: At Least 57 Civilian Casualties, Including Children
A devastating incident has unfolded in Sudan amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis: late Friday, paramilitary forces known as the Rapid Response Forces (RSF) carried out an airstrike on a refugee shelter in the city of El-Fasher.
According to medical and human rights groups, at least 57 civilians were killed, including 17 children, 22 women, and several infants, in a targeted assault that also left over twenty others seriously wounded.
The attack has sparked international calls for urgent action as the region faces what experts describe as a humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented scale.
Official reports indicate that the strike was executed using drones, missile launchers, and artillery, deliberately targeting a civilian facility located within the premises of the Islamic University of Omdurman.
Local human rights organizations have labeled this incident a ‘massacre’ and warn that the actual number of victims may be higher.
The city of El-Fasher, the administrative center of North Darfur, has been under immense pressure for months, with local markets destroyed, food supplies exhausted, and access for humanitarian aid severely restricted.
The United Nations reports that residents are forced to hide in makeshift underground shelters, surviving on animal feed and food waste due to the near-total breakdown of infrastructure.
Satellite images analyzed by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative reveal systematic burning of villages and refugee camps within a 57-kilometer radius of El-Fasher, with evidence pointing to ethnic persecutions mainly targeting non-Arab communities.
A 57-kilometer earth barrier has been erected around the city, further restricting civilian movement and humanitarian access.
The city’s only operational hospital, the Saudi Maternity Hospital, has been shelled three times in the past week, resulting in the deaths of six people, including a child.
International health agencies, including WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have called for immediate protection of medical facilities, condemning attacks on hospitals as ‘reckless and unacceptable.’ The International Red Cross reports that health facilities across Sudan are regularly attacked and looted, with ambulances either blocked or destroyed.
In Khartoum, as much as 80% of hospitals are either closed or functioning at minimal capacity.
According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 53 civilians have been killed in El-Fasher between October 5 and 8 due to ongoing attacks, with the numbers expected to rise.
Despite international appeals for ceasefire, fighting persists as both sides—Sudanese Armed Forces and RSF—continue combat operations in densely populated areas, worsening the humanitarian crisis.
The Sudan conflict centers on power struggles between the two main military factions: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF, which previously allied under a military coup but later fell into fierce conflict over control of the country.
The ongoing war has led to what many organizations call the largest humanitarian crisis in the world—tens of thousands killed, millions displaced, and infrastructure destroyed, with the health system in disarray.
The Darfur region remains a focal point of intense fighting, with RSF applying brutal siege tactics—including widespread bombardments of civilians, hospitals, and refugee camps—to force surrender and further destabilize the region.