A paramilitary attack in the North Darfur town of al-Malha has left at least 45 civilians dead, according to an initial toll released by activists on Saturday.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been engaged in a war with Sudan’s army since April 2023, claimed on Thursday to have seized control of al-Malha, which is located 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of the North Darfur state capital, El-Fasher.
A local volunteer aid group in El-Fasher, known as a resistance committee, provided a “preliminary list of the victims of the al-Malha massacre,” attributing the deaths to the RSF.
The group reported that 15 of the victims remain unidentified. Nearly all of Darfur, a region the size of France, is under RSF control, although the paramilitaries have so far failed to capture El-Fasher.
The RSF suffered a setback on Friday when the army recaptured the presidential palace in Khartoum, around 800 kilometers away.
In a statement, the RSF claimed to have “encircled the enemy,” stating that their forces had left more than 380 dead in al-Malha.
A coalition of armed groups, called the Joint Forces, which is aligned with the army, has been actively repelling RSF attacks and intercepting paramilitary supply routes from Chad and Libya.
Al-Malha, located in the northernmost part of the vast desert between Sudan and Libya, has been a key battleground between the Joint Forces and the RSF for months.
Following recent gains by the army in central Sudan, including significant victories in the capital, analysts believe the RSF is focused on solidifying its control over Darfur.
Since the war broke out in April 2023, tens of thousands have been killed, over 12 million people have been displaced, and the conflict has sparked the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises, according to the United Nations.
The war has also pushed three displacement camps near El-Fasher into famine, a UN-backed assessment revealed.
In the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps, which together house around one million displaced individuals, local monitors reported long queues for drinking water due to the RSF’s ongoing siege.
