Sudan鈥檚 paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed 75 people in a drone strike that hit a mosque in the western city of El-Fasher on Friday, first responders said.
The RSF conducted their strike as they pressed a push to capture the last major city in the vast western region of Darfur still under army control.
The attack struck worshippers in the city鈥檚 Al-Daraja neighbourhood, where civilians from the famine-hit Abu Shouk displacement camp had fled after fighters overran the camp.
鈥楾he bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the mosque,鈥� the Abu Shouk Emergency Response Room, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating relief across Sudan, said on social media.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF on the incident.
El-Fasher, which has been under paramilitary siege for about 18 months, is the final state capital in Darfur still under the control of Sudan鈥檚 army, which has been locked in a devastating war with the RSF since April 2023.
The city鈥檚 fall would hand the RSF full territorial dominance over the region, where the UN and rights groups have already reported mass atrocities, including ethnically targeted massacres.
Satellite imagery released by Yale University鈥檚 Humanitarian Research Lab on Thursday showed RSF forces advancing on multiple fronts, including around Abu Shouk camp and the former UNAMID peacekeeping base, now used by anti-RSF Joint Forces.
The Joint Forces, a coalition armed groups, has fought alongside the army since late 2023 after mass killings targeting the Massalit tribe in West Darfur state capital El-Geneina.
鈥楻SF has likely captured the former UNAMID compound, Joint Forces鈥� base of operations,鈥� Yale said, citing damage visible in satellite imagery collected between Monday and Thursday.
An RSF source, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media, said: 鈥楤y around 2:00pm (Thursday), our forces had taken full control of the UNAMID base.鈥�
Buildings near Abu Shouk have been razed to the ground between Monday and Wednesday, according to Yale鈥檚 analysis of low-resolution satellite imagery.
RSF units now control much of the famine-hit Abu Shouk displacement camp, a densely populated area just three kilometres north of UNAMID, according to eyewitnesses.
This places El鈥慒asher airport 鈥� the army鈥檚 de facto base of operations located three kilometres south of UNAMID 鈥� and the army鈥檚 6th Division headquarters both within direct RSF firing range.
El-Fasher remains under a communications blackout, making it difficult to verify casualties or coordinate aid.
The war in Sudan, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly 12 million and created what the United Nations describes as the world鈥檚 largest displacement and hunger crises.
The war has divided the country, with army controlling the country鈥檚 north, east and centre, while the RSF dominates swathes of the south and most of Darfur, where it has begun establishing parallel administrative structures.
