Sudan: 150 Reportedly Killed in Rebel Attack

At least 150 people were killed and 200 injured in an attack by rebel forces in Sudan, local officials and witnesses said, in the latest atrocity in the year-long war that has displaced more than 7 million people.

Eyewitnesses said on Thursday how fighters from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) descended upon Wad al-Nour village in the central Al-Jazira state on Wednesday.

They described scenes of terror and carnage as over 40 armed vehicles stormed the village, unleashing heavy weaponry on its inhabitants, killing and wounding mostly civilians, among them children and women.

Fighting is still ongoing just a few kilometers away, with terrified villagers fearful of further escalations, the witness said.

Another eyewitness reported the ongoing grim task of counting the dead and injured. “So far, we’ve buried more than 120 people in a mass grave in the middle of the village,” he said.

Footage shared on social media Wednesday, and geolocated by CNN, shows a large crowd in Wad Al-Noura village surrounding dozens of dead bodies, shrouded in white, as preparations were being made for their burial. 219

Another video allegedly shows the RSF militia firing heavy and medium weapons towards the village.

Both the Sudanese army and the RSF have faced damning accusations of civilian massacres since the civil war broke out in April 2023.

The RSF acknowledged the attack in a statement Wednesday and said it was a pre-emptive attack on Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF), camps in Wad Al-Noura in response to a planned attack by the army. They did not acknowledge the civilian deaths reported.

According to the RSF, eight of its fighters were killed, others injured, and they seized vehicles, weapons, and military equipment during the operation.

However, eyewitnesses said  that there is no military presence in the village, adding that the Sudanese army operates a military base about 30 km (19 miles) southwest of Wad Al-Noura, which is being cited as a possible reason for the attack.

The leader of the SAF vowed to retaliate after arriving in a city near the attack where he visited survivors, according to state news agency SUNA. “The response to the militia’s crimes against the martyrs of [Wad al-Nour] will be severe and harsh,” warned Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, SAF Commander-in-Chief and President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council.