Sudan’s military has been accused of carrying out an airstrike on a market in the western Darfur region that reportedly killed more than 100 people.
The emergency lawyers’ rights group called Monday’s weekly market bombing in the town of Kabakabiya a “horrific massacre.”
Clashes between the army and its former ally, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have intensified in recent weeks in various parts of Sudan.
Both sides deny committing war crimes during their 19-month power struggle that has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and forced more than 11 million people from their homes. .
According to emergency lawyers, the airstrike came as residents of nearby villages went shopping in Kabkabiya, about 180 kilometers (112 miles) west of al-Fisher, the only town still under military control in Darfur and under siege since April. is
“This attack on civilians on Market Day is a clear violation of international law,” emergency lawyers said, adding that hundreds of people were injured in the airstrikes.
The group also condemned the RSF’s indiscriminate shelling of Omdurman, a town across the Nile River from the capital Khartoum.
Emergency lawyers said that 14 people were killed when a shell hit a bus on Tuesday.
It also condemned the RSF for using civilian infrastructure, such as fuel stations, for military purposes.
On Sunday, an air strike hit a petrol station in the RSF-controlled area of Khartoum, killing at least 28 people.
A volunteer group, the South Belt Emergency Response Room, said 37 people were also injured.
The military has fighter jets but has denied deliberately targeting civilians.
On Tuesday, a military spokesman said their airstrikes were part of a legitimate exercise to defend the country, adding that the army vowed to target RSF positions it claimed were are often hidden in residential areas.
Campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the United Nations and the African Union to immediately deploy troops to Sudan to protect civilians.
In his latest report on the atrocities in Sudanit has accused the RSF and allied Arab militias of killing scores of civilians – and wounding, raping and abducting many more – in waves of attacks in South Kordofan state from December 2023 to March 2024.
The rights group has previously documented similar abuses as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing in West Darfur.
“The abuse of civilians by Rapid Support Forces in South Kordofan is symptomatic of ongoing atrocities throughout Sudan,” said HRW researcher Jean-Baptiste Gallupin.
“These new findings underscore the urgent need to deploy a mission to protect civilians in Sudan.”
In May, U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Tom Perillo said some estimates put the death toll at 150,000 in the conflict.