El-Fasher, July 29(Darfur24)
Artillery shelling between the army and the forces of the armed movements allied with it on the one hand and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)on the other hand resumed today, Monday, in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, for the third consecutive day amid fierce battles southeast of the city.
The government of North Darfur said that the rocket shells that fell in the livestock market south of the city killed 60 citizens and injured 100 others.
In a statement issued today, Monday, it expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the two human massacres committed by the Rapid Support Forces against civilians in El Fasher through intensive and systematic artillery shelling over the past three days on neighborhoods and service facilities.
It called on all judicial and national institutions to carry out their responsibilities towards protecting civilians and conducting a comprehensive investigation into the two massacres to put an end to the irresponsible actions of the militia, according to the statement.
A medical source in the Ministry of Health in North Darfur State told Darfur 24 that the Saudi Specialized Hospital and El Fasher Airport were subjected to heavy artillery shelling today, Monday, which resulted in the death and injury of dozens of people, whose numbers are still being counted.
The source revealed that wounded people arrived from the livestock market, the neighborhoods of Al-Thawra, Awlad Al-Reef, First Class, and the vicinity of the Grand Market, without further details.
An eyewitness, Najm Al-Din Ahmed, told Darfur 24 that El Fasher International Airport and the Saudi Specialized Hospital were subjected to heavy artillery shelling, as well as shelling of the vicinity of the Grand Market in the city center and the army headquarters west of the market.
A military source in the Sudanese army in El Fasher, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Darfur 24 that the battles between the two parties “are still ongoing today in the southeastern axis.” He added: “The Rapid Support Forces shelled the city today with more than 70 rockets, including American Kornet missiles, and we responded to the source of the shells that were launched towards a number of neighborhoods, markets, vital institutions, and the army command.”
Darfur24 was unable to obtain a comment from the Rapid Support Forces on the accusations leveled against them.
Dr. Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, Director General of the Ministry of Health in the state, accused the Rapid Support Forces of using chemical weapons against civilians.
Khater told Darfur24 that as a doctor, he noticed that the victims’ wounds varied in severity, indicating the type of burns caused by the bombing of the past three days.
Yesterday, Sunday, the city of El Fasher witnessed shelling by drones carried out by the Rapid Support Forces on the vicinity of the Nabd Al Hayat Clinic located in the middle of the market, which killed 3 people, injured 2 others, burned two cars, and closed a medical source at the Saudi Southern Hospital.
The Resistance Committees considered the artillery shelling of neighborhoods, service institutions, and mosques as insane.
It said on its official Facebook page that the dead in the past three days were 43 children, 13 women, and 9 men.