Al-Tina, December20 (Darfur24)
More than seven people were killed in separate security incidents over the past three days in the border town of Al-Tina, adjacent to Chad, amid a sharp security breakdown that prompted authorities to close the main market, according to multiple local sources.
A senior Sudanese army officer told Darfur24 that armed clashes broke out on Wednesday between gunmen involved in drug trafficking, leaving two fighters dead and another civilian killed by a stray bullet.
Following the clashes, the town’s security committee held an emergency meeting and decided to close the market, ban the operation of shisha and tea shops and Wi-Fi cafés, and impose a curfew.
On Friday, residents of the Al-Hijra neighborhood reported the discovery of two bodies inside an abandoned house, one bearing clear signs of torture. A suspect was arrested and is under investigation.
“Available information indicates that armed men abducted, tortured, and extorted the two victims for ransom before killing them,” the military source said.
Autopsies were conducted by a visiting doctor from the neighboring Chadian town of Tine due to the prolonged closure of Al-Tina hospital. Police said the bodies showed signs of torture and remain in custody pending identification by relatives.
In a separate incident, a local leader in North Darfur said two people—one of them a member of the Popular Resistance—were killed on Thursday during clashes in the town of Triqo, about 30 kilometers south of Al-Tina.
He said the violence erupted after members of a Popular Resistance outpost confiscated charcoal and donkey carts from four men accused of illegally cutting trees. The men later returned armed and attacked the outpost, killing one resistance member and one attacker. Another suspect was arrested, along with a Kalashnikov rifle.
Police received the bodies, seized the carts and charcoal, and took custody of the suspect, who was handed over by the joint force of armed movements in the area. The local leader said relatives of one of the dead later protested outside the police station, demanding charges against the Popular Resistance commander.
Meanwhile, trader Ismail Mohamed told Darfur24 that Al-Tina market has been closed for more than four days due to insecurity and armed confrontations involving drug dealers.
He said the market was also shut for more than two weeks last November following looting and nighttime break-ins, noting that around 60 percent of traders have moved their goods to Chad, while others now sell directly from homes.
Al-Tina, one of the main border crossings for aid delivery and trade between Sudan and Chad, remains under the control of the Sudanese army and allied joint forces. It is among the last areas under their control in Darfur, alongside Karnoi and Ambro, after the Rapid Support Forces seized most of the region, except parts of Jebel Marra controlled by the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid Nour.