Sudanese army airstrike in Darfur kills dozens, activists say

An airstrike by the Sudanese Armed Forces on Monday night hit a crowded market in North Darfur, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries, activists reported on Tuesday. 

Photos and videos posted on social media showed dozens of burned corpses, and smoke still rising from the ground. The footage was verified by the Centre for Information Resilience, a London-based non-profit group, which located the site to the village of Tora about 40 km (25 miles) north of al-Fasher.

The location and date of the incident matched satellite imagery that showed a new burn scar on the eastern side of the village, the group said, adding it was one of the highest reported casualty numbers they had documented in Darfur since October 2024.

The Sudanese army did not immediately respond to a Reuters request to comment.

Lists of the dead and wounded provided by the Coordinating Committee for Refugees and Displaced People, an advocacy group in Darfur, included 84 people, at least 26 listed as dead. Reuters could not independently verify the lists.

The attack on a densely populated civilian area was a violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime, said Emergency Lawyers, a group monitoring the conflict's impact on civilians. It called for an independent investigation to hold those responsible accountable through international justice mechanisms.

Tora is controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are engaged in a power struggle with the Sudanese army. 

The conflict has contributed to what the United Nations describes as the world's largest and most devastating humanitarian crisis that is only getting worse as aid deliveries are arbitrarily delayed.

Approximately half of Sudan's population of 50 million faces acute hunger, predominantly in areas controlled or threatened by the RSF, with over 12.5 million people displaced due to the ongoing violence.

The RSF said the death toll in Tora surpassed 400, with hundreds more injured. Reuters was not able to independently verify these figures. 

Both the Sudanese army and RSF have accused each other of targeting civilian areas, resulting in rising casualties as the RSF attempts to establish a parallel government in western Sudan while losing ground in the capital, Khartoum, which threatens to further divide the country, which split from South Sudan in 2011.

The Emergency Lawyers group had accused the RSF of shelling a mosque during a night prayer in the East Nile locality on Saturday, killing five civilians and injuring dozens more.

Meanwhile in al-Fasher, Relief International, the only organization providing support in Zamzam Camp, where over half a million people displaced by conflict are sheltering, said the situation is dire, and worsening by the day.

According to the support organisation, the number of children aged six months to five years who were admitted to its clinics with severe or moderate acute malnutrition increased by 58%, reaching 2,223 in February, while the number of pregnant and breastfeeding women admitted with moderate acute malnutrition increased by 85% in the same period, reaching 488.