Witnesses in Sudan say that multiple civilian vendors are among the dozens reportedly killed in an attack on a market earlier this week in a poverty-stricken Darfur city in southwestern Sudan SHENDI, Sudan -- Multiple civilian vendors were among the dozens reportedly killed in an attack on a market earlier this week in a poverty-stricken Darfur city in southwestern Sudan, where they had gathered to sell goods to paramilitary fighters, witnesses said Wednesday. More than 100 people were killed and 113 others were wounded on Monday in a Sudanese military drone strike on a busy market in Nyala, the capital of the South Darfur province, said Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence. The group said many of those killed and wounded were women and children.
A cigarette vendor told The by phone on Wednesday that hundreds of Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, fighters had gathered at the market that evening. He said that he moved his stall between gatherings of the paramilitary fighters to sell cigarettes and that a drone struck around 8 p.m., killing dozens of fighters and women selling food. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Mohamed Didan, the official spokesperson for the Special Operations Forces fighting with the army, wrote on Facebook that more than “150 militia recruits” were killed at the Dumaya camp, west of Nyala, in what he described as a “precise and targeted airstrike.” The latest attack came as part of the ongoing war between the army and the RSF, which broke out in April 2023, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to aid organizations. The war has killed at least 59,000 people and displaced around 13 million people. Another witness told the AP that the explosion was massive and killed many fighters.
He estimated that around 14 civilians, including women and children, were also killed, most of them women selling tea and food. The witness, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in fear of reprisals, said that civilians in Nyala often gather wherever fighters congregate to sell food and tea to earn a living amid widespread unemployment and few sources of income. Final casualty figures from Monday’s attack in Nyala are unconfirmed amid limited information from the city.
Sudan Doctors Network, another group that tracks violence, gave a lower death toll and said that the attack was from shelling. It said in a statement Wednesday that at least 21 people were killed and more than 40 others were wounded. The toll includes civilians.
Doctors Without Borders, which is also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF, said Tuesday that 36 bodies arrived at its hospital in Nyala and reported seeing 150 wounded in an emergency room. It said 21 of them were wearing civilian clothing. The question everyone is asking is ‘Why are markets being targeted?
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