El Fasher, March 25(Darfur 24)
The death toll from the Sudanese army’s airstrike on the town of Tora on Monday has risen to 57 dead and more than 200 injured, according to eyewitnesses and medical sources.
On Monday, a Sudanede army warplane launched airstrikes targeting the weekly market in Tora, located 30 kilometers north of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, setting fire to shops and charring a number of bodies.
A medical source at Mellit Rural Hospital confirmed to Darfur 24 that a number of wounded arrived at the hospital in critical condition requiring urgent surgical intervention. noting that the shortage of medicines and medical supplies exacerbated the suffering of the injured.
For his part, tribal leader Ishaq Ibrahim Sharif announced a rise in the death toll after collecting a number of charred bodies. The initial death toll reached 57 dead , while the number of wounded reached more than 200 people who were transferred to hospitals in El Fasher, Mellit, Kabkabiya, and Saraf Omra for treatment.
He indicated that the death toll is still on the sise and that the number of victims is large, indicating that there are bodies that have not yet been identified.
Activists on social media postrd videos showing the effects of the airstrike on the Tora market, showing burning shops and a number of charred bodies.
War Crime
For its part, the Emergency Lawyers human rights group said that the Sudanese Armed Forces’ warplanes committed a horrific massacre by indiscriminately bombing the Tora market in North Darfur, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and the serious injury of dozens.
The statement added that “the bombing, which targeted a densely populated area, constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and constitutes a systematic war crime under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”
It continued, “These ongoing massacres reflect a deliberate approach to targeting civilians, which requires urgent action to end impunity.”
The rights group called for an independent investigation to ensure that those responsible for the crimes are held accountable before international courts. It also called for urgent legal measures to prosecute all those involved in issuing and executing the bombing orders, halting military attacks targeting civilians, and imposing deterrent sanctions on those responsible for these grave violations.
The group held the Sudanese Armed Forces fully responsible for the crime, stating that it “will continue to document these crimes and work to bring those responsible to justice, affirming the principle of non-impunity and ensuring redress for victims.”