Sudan rescuers say at least 120 killed by shelling near capital

PORT SUDAN, Sudan — Sudanese volunteer rescuers said shelling in the greater Khartoum area has killed at least 120 people, as fighting between the army and paramilitaries has escalated nationwide.

The "random shelling" on Monday in western Omdurman, the capital's twin city just across the Nile River, resulted in the deaths of 120 civilians, said the Ombada Emergency Response Room, part of a network of volunteer rescuers across the war-torn country.

It said the figure was an "initial toll", and did not specify who was behind the attack.

The rescuers said medical supplies were in critically short supply as health workers struggled to treat "a large number of wounded people suffering from varying degrees of injuries" as a result of the shelling.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been at war between the forces of rival generals vying for control.

Most of Omdurman is under army control, while the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) hold Khartoum North and some other areas of the capital.

Greater Khartoum residents on both sides of the Nile regularly report shelling across the river, with bombs and shrapnel often hitting homes and civilians.

Both the army and the RSF have been accused of targeting civilians, including health workers, and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.

On Sunday, rescuers in Omdurman's Ombada locality reported a dire healthcare crisis, with over 70 deaths between August and December attributed to severe malnutrition, malaria and diarrhoea.

 Humanitarian crisis 

The shelling on Monday came as fighting between the army and the RSF has intensified in recent weeks, more than 20 months into their war.

Port Sudan, the seat of Sudan's army-aligned government was without power on Monday after a drone attack blamed on paramilitaries hit a major hydroelectric dam in the country's north.

The drone attack followed the army's capture of Wad Madani, the capital of the central state of Al Jazira, after more than a year of paramilitary control.

In addition to decimating Sudan's already fragile infrastructure, the war has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, uprooted more than 12 million and pushed many Sudanese to the brink of famine.

On Friday, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that an estimated 3.2 million children under the age of five are expected to face acute malnutrition this year in Sudan.

"Of this number, around 772,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition," Eva Hinds, head of advocacy and communications for UNICEF Sudan, told AFP.

Famine has already gripped five areas across Sudan, according to a report last month by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed assessment.

Across the country, more than 24.6 million people, around half the population, face "high levels of acute food insecurity", according to IPC.

It said that "only a ceasefire can reduce the risk of famine spreading further".