More than 70 people have been killed in a drone strike on a mosque in Sudan’s conflict-ridden Darfur region, a senior medical source has confirmed to the BBC.
The attack, which struck worshippers during Friday morning prayers in the city of El-Fasher, has been blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), though the group has not claimed responsibility. At least 78 people were reported dead and around 20 others injured, with efforts to retrieve bodies from the rubble still ongoing.
Footage authenticated by BBC Verify shows about 30 bodies wrapped in shrouds and blankets outside the mosque, located in the western part of the besieged city. El-Fasher is the last major army stronghold in Darfur and home to more than 300,000 civilians trapped by the fighting.
The RSF has renewed its offensive on the city after more than a year-long siege, reportedly seizing control of parts of Abu Shouk, a nearby camp for displaced people, as well as entering the headquarters of the Joint Forces, an army-allied coalition based in a former UN compound. Satellite imagery suggests these advances now place the city’s airport and Sudanese army division headquarters within RSF firing range.
The Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale University has warned that El-Fasher could fall without urgent reinforcements for the Sudanese military. A capture would solidify RSF dominance in western Sudan and deepen the country’s division, with the army holding the north and east.
The United Nations has raised concerns about the “increasing ethnicisation of the conflict,” warning of retaliatory attacks on communities accused of siding with opposing factions. Rights groups have documented systematic RSF campaigns of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab populations in areas they control.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders recently reported that RSF fighters spoke of plans to “clean El-Fasher” of its non-Arab residents. The group has consistently denied accusations of ethnic targeting, describing the violence as part of wider “tribal conflicts.”
