United News of Bangladesh

Sudan's notorious paramilitary group launched a two-day attack on famine-hit camps for displaced people that left more than 100 dead, including 20 children and nine aid workers, in the Darfur region, a UN official said Saturday. The Rapid Support Forces and allied militias launched an offensive on the Zamzam and Abu Shorouk camps and the nearby city of el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Friday, said UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami, AP reports. El-Fasher is under the control of the military, which has fought the RSF since Sudan descended into civil war two years ago, killing more than than 24,000 people, according to the United Nations, though activists say the number is likely far higher. The camps were attacked again on Saturday, Nkweta-Salami said in a statement. She said that nine aid workers were killed “while operating one of the very few remaining health posts still operational” in Zamzam camp. “This represents yet another deadly and unacceptable escalation in a series of brutal attacks on displaced people and aid workers in Sudan since the onset of this conflict nearly two years ago,” she said. Nkweta-Salami didn’t identify the aid workers but Sudan’s Doctors’ Union said in a statement that six medical workers with the Relief International were killed when their hospital in Zamzam came under attack on Friday. South Sudan teetering on the edge of renewed civil war, UN envoy says In a statement Saturday evening, Relief International mourned the death of its nine workers, saying they were killed the previous day in a “targeted attack on all health infrastructure in the region,” including the group’s clinic. The group said the central market in Zamzam along with hundreds of makeshift homes in the camp were destroyed in the attack. The offensive forced about 2,400 people to flee the camps and el-Fasher, according to the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees, a local group in Darfur. Zamzam and Abu Shouk shelter more than 700,000 people who have been forced to flee their homes across Darfur during past bouts of fighting in the region, Nkweta-Salami said.

A paramilitary assault on an open market in Omdurman, Sudan, left 54 people dead and at least 158 wounded, health officials reported Saturday.  The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked Sabrein Market in the latest violent escalation of Sudan’s ongoing civil war. The conflict, which began in April 2023, has devastated the northeastern African nation, AP reports.  There was no immediate response from the RSF regarding the attack.  Government spokesperson Khalid al-Aleisir, who also serves as Sudan’s culture minister, condemned the assault, stating that many women and children were among the victims. He described the attack as a violation of international humanitarian law.  “This criminal act only adds to the militia’s history of brutality,” he said in a statement.  US military conducts airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia According to Sudan’s Doctors Syndicate, a mortar shell exploded just meters from al-Naw Hospital, which received most of the casualties. The syndicate reported a severe shortage of medical personnel, particularly surgeons and nurses.  Chris Lockyear, secretary general of Doctors Without Borders, was at the hospital when the injured began arriving.  “There are scores of people with devastating wounds, and the morgue is overflowing,” he said. “It’s a horrific scene, another example of this relentless war on civilians.”  A video posted by Al Arabiya TV correspondent Nezar Bogdawi showed body bags lined up outside the hospital and wounded individuals receiving treatment on the floor.  Sudan’s military later announced it had driven RSF fighters out of several areas in Gezira state.  Last week, an RSF assault on a hospital in El Fasher, Darfur, killed around 70 people.  The war has claimed over 28,000 lives, displaced millions, and led to famine. The International Criminal Court is investigating war crimes, while the US has accused the RSF of genocide.