A paramilitary group attacked a village in Sudan, killing more than 120 people and hurting 200 more. It was the deadliest attack in the 18-month conflict.
The random attacks happened in the village of al-Seraiha in Sudan’s al-Gezira State on Friday. They were said to have been done by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
On Saturday, the government said that the attack had hurt at least 240 people.
Local media said that heavily armed RSF soldiers randomly shot villagers who were not armed. About 150 more people have been arrested by RSF forces.
During the fighting, the RSF has taken over large parts of the country in northeast Africa where it is fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces.
The US put sanctions on a top RSF leader earlier this month, saying he was guilty of buying and giving weapons to militias, which made the bloody civil war worse.
Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department put sanctions on Mirghani Idris Suleiman, who is in charge of buying weapons for the Sudanese Armed Forces.
The Treasury said that Suleiman was “maintaining violence and extending the fighting in Sudan.”
After years of rising tensions, the civil war broke out in August 2023 when the Sudanese army fought with RSF soldiers. President Omar al-Bashir, who had been in power for 30 years, was removed from office in 2019 by a coup backed by the people.
The World Health Organization says that since the civil war began, more than 20,000 people have been killed. The situation in the country has become one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
The US has said that both sides of the conflict have committed war crimes and has tried more than once to bring about a peace agreement.
