WEDNESDAY March 26, 2025 |
By thenewsdesk.ng
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, March 25, 2025.
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.
According to REUTERS, 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.
Sudanese Army Airstrike In Darfur Kills Dozens, Activists Say
