CAIRO/DUBAI: The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces attacked a village in Gezira State on Wednesday, killing at least 100 people, according to local activists.
If confirmed, the attack would be the latest in a string of dozens of attacks by RSF soldiers on small villages across the farming state after it took control of the capital Wad Madani in December.
A telecommunications blackout prevented Reuters immediately reaching medics or residents to verify the death toll.
“Wad Alnoura village ... witnessed a genocide on Wednesday after the RSF attacked twice, killing up to 100 people,” the pro-democracy Wad Madani Resistance Committee said in a statement on social media late on Wednesday.
Later it put the number of dead in the hundreds, and said the Sudanese army had not heeded a request for help.
The RSF began fighting the army in April 2023 after disputes over the integration of the two forces, and has since taken over the capital Khartoum and most of western Sudan. It is now seeking to advance into the center, as United Nations agencies say the people of Sudan are at “imminent risk of famine.”
In a statement on Wednesday, the RSF said it had attacked army and allied militia bases around Wad Alnoura but did not acknowledge any civilian casualties.
But the Wad Madani Resistance Committee accused it of using heavy artillery against civilians, looting, and driving women and children to seek refuge in the nearby town of Managil.
It shared photos of dozens of bodies wrapped for burial in an open square among large crowds of men.
“The people of Wad Alnoura called on the army to rescue them, but they shamefully did not respond,” the committee said.
The army-aligned Transitional Sovereign Council condemned the attack.
“These are criminal acts that reflect the systematic behavior of these militias in targeting civilians,” it said in a statement.
Sudan’s RSF kills at least 100 in attack on village, activists say
Sudan’s RSF kills at least 100 in attack on village, activists say
- Wad Alnoura village witnessed a genocide on Wednesday after the RSF attacked twice, killing up to 100 people
Family of Palestinian-American shot dead by Israeli settler demand accountability
- Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community
LONDON: The family of a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man reportedly shot dead by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank have demanded accountability, amid mounting scrutiny over a surge in settler violence and a lack of prosecutions.
Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a US citizen born in Philadelphia, was killed near the city of Ramallah on Wednesday, becoming at least the sixth American citizen to die in incidents involving Israeli settlers or soldiers in the territory in the past two years.
Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community. Witnesses said that stones were thrown by both sides before settlers opened fire, wounding at least three villagers.
Abu Siyam was struck and later died of his injuries.
Abdulhamid Siyam, the victim’s cousin, said the killing reflected a wider pattern of impunity.
“A young man of 19 shot and killed in cold blood, and no responsibility,” he told the BBC. “Impunity completely.”
The US State Department said that it was aware of the death of a US citizen and was “carefully monitoring the situation,” while the Trump administration said that it stood ready to provide consular assistance.
The Israeli embassy in Washington said the incident was under review and that an operational inquiry “must be completed as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces said troops were deployed to the scene and used “riot dispersal means to restore order,” adding that no IDF gunfire was reported.
The military confirmed that the incident remained under review and said that a continued presence would be maintained in the area to prevent further unrest.
Palestinians and human rights organizations say such reviews rarely lead to criminal accountability, arguing that Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers accused of violence.
A US embassy spokesperson later said that Washington “condemns this violence,” as international concern continues to grow over conditions in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians and human rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to investigate or prosecute settlers accused of violence against civilians.
Those concerns were echoed this week by the UN, which warned that Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank may amount to ethnic cleansing.
A UN human rights office report on Thursday said that Israeli settlement expansion, settler attacks and military operations have increasingly displaced Palestinian communities, with dozens of villages reportedly emptied since the start of the Gaza war.
The report also criticized Israeli military tactics in the northern West Bank, saying that they resembled warfare and led to mass displacement, while noting abuses by Palestinian security forces, including the use of unnecessary lethal force and the intimidation of critics.
Neither Israel’s foreign ministry nor the Palestinian Authority has commented on the findings.
