Sudan: Dozens killed in RSF drone strike on Darfur mosque
The Rapid Support Forces rebel group struck a mosque at a displaced persons camp in Darfur. The UN has warned that civilian deaths are increasing as the civil war drags on.
Dozens of people were killed after Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) struck a mosque at a displaced persons' camp in Darfur, medical and aid workers said Friday.
The Emergency Response Room, a local volunteer group which helps coordinate relief at the Abu Shouk camp outside El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, said 75 people had been killed in the drone strike.
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The Sudan Doctors Network, however, said 43 worshipers were killed in the "horrific massacre."
In a post on X, it "strongly condemns this heinous crime, which violates all international and humanitarian laws."
The drone strike comes as the RSF paramilitary forces look to push the Sudanese army, which is backed by the government, further out of El-Fasher.
Sudan's "forgotten war" escalating, UN warns
The war in Sudan, now in its third year, has intensified with civilian deaths, executions, and ethnic violence increasing since the beginning of this year, according to a UN report released Friday.
"Sudan's conflict is a forgotten one, and I hope that my office's report puts the spotlight on this disastrous situation where atrocity crimes, including war crimes, are being committed," UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
The report revealed that civilians are bearing the brunt of the war. It found that civilian deaths this year have sharply increased, with 3,384 fatalities in the first half of 2025, which is 80 per cent of the total of civilian deaths from last year.
"Several trends remained consistent during the first half of 2025: a continued pervasiveness of sexual violence, indiscriminate attacks, and the widespread use of retaliatory violence against civilians, particularly on an ethnic basis, targeting individuals accused of 'collaboration' with opposing parties," the report said.
The war between the armed forces and the RSF first broke out in April 2023.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced in what the UN describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
The war has divided the country, with the army controlling North, East and Central Sudan, while the RSF controls part of the southern and western regions.
Efforts to reach a ceasefire between the two groups have so far failed. Last week, the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt called for a three-month humanitarian truce.
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