Rapid Support Forces attack three hospitals
Rapid Support Forces attack three hospitals
Omdurman, El Obeid, Jebel Aulia hospitals all come under attack
Artillery attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) resulted in deaths and injuries at three hospitals in three different cities in the past few days.
“Jebel Aulia Hospital was bombarded, the dialysis department and the laboratory were damaged, and two died inside the hospital due to the shelling, and the hospital is currently closed and kidney patients were transferred to the military hospital. Some pharmacies were damaged due to this random bombing,” said the Jebel Aulia Emergency Room, an initiative of hospital volunteers, in a statement October 9.
The group added, “Over the past three days, the neighborhoods of Jebal Aulia area and its market have been bombarded indiscriminately and continuously by the militia, which led to a large number of deaths and injuries.”
Jebel Aulia is located 40 km south of Khartoum and is under attack by the RSF from the north and east. RSF also control the opposite bank of the White Nile to the west.
Another city under siege by the RSF, the North Kordofan capital of El Obeid, suffered two days of fierce fighting Sunday and Monday, resulting in at least 70 injuries and six deaths, according to the state health minister El Fatih Abdelrahman. He told Radio Dabanga that during the fighting Sunday, a shell landed at the Kuwaiti Children’s Hospital, injuring three medical workers.
Hospitals in El Obeid are suffering shortages of fuel and supplies due to the influx of the large number of wounded.
Lastly, shells landed Monday morning in and around one of the last functioning hospitals in Omdurman, the twin city of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, killing four people, including two medical workers.
MSF, a medical aid organization supporting the hospital, said the shell hit the emergency room department, killing two patient caretakers and injuring five. “A further four shells exploded just outside the hospital, killing two more people and leaving several others injured,” the organization added.
“MSF is shocked and outraged that a fully functioning hospital has been hit; we have repeatedly called for medical facilities and civilian lives to be protected…”
Al Nau Hospital is located in territory controlled by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), making it likely that the shells came from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The Karari Resistance Committees blamed the attack on RSF, as did Emergency Lawyers.
In a related development, heavy shelling in various neighborhoods of Karari wounded another 90 people and killed five October 5, according to MSF. Soon after that, members of the RSF circulated online video of a rocket artillery system firing in that direction from Khartoum Bahri (geolocation here).
Military Situation
Street fighting raged in various parts of northern Omdurman throughout the day Monday. In the capital, the last army troops are pinned down around the Armed Forces General Command and the Armored Corps in southwest Khartoum.
The RSF continue to shell these fortified areas and probe for weaknesses but the cost of taking them in an outright assault appears to be a price they are unwilling to pay. They have therefore embraced a more gradualist approach, freeing up fighters for operations elsewhere, such as Jebel Aulia and al-Aylafoun, which they attacked last Thursday. Since our previous report on al-Aylafoun, the RSF have consolidated their control over the city, looting and abusing citizens, including one whom they shot on camera. RSF have also entered new parts of Jezira State.
In brief
The Armed Forces spokesperson stated Monday that the 54th Infantry Brigade in Dilling in South Kordofan repulsed an attack by SPLM-North.
RSF claimed to have shot down an Antonov aircraft Monday in Nyala.
Abdelrahim Dagalo, the brother of the RSF leader and deputy commander-in-chief, is currently in Nyala. He made a brief video appearance in which he vowed, “We will liberate the people of Sudan from the hypocrites.”
The Misseriya paramount chief in a speech in al-Mujlad, in oil-producing West Kordofan State, warned the army not to enter the area.
In a recent investigation (English, Arabic), we found conclusively that members of Sudan’s Operations Authority and the Central Reserve Police, both of which are affiliated to the Sudan Armed Forces, executed three detainees in Omdurman.