Paramilitary Group Opens Fire in Central Sudan Village

Fighters from Sudan's paramilitary group rampaged through a central village, looting and burning and killing at least 85 people, including women and children, authorities and residents said Saturday, the latest atrocity in the country's devastating 18-month conflict. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began attacking Galgani in the central province of Sennar late in July, and last week RSF fighters "indiscriminately opened fire on the village's unarmed residents" after they resisted attempts to abduct and sexually assault women and girls, Sudan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. More than 150 villagers were wounded, according to the statement, the AP reports.

The RSF has been repeatedly accused of massacres, rapes, and other gross violations across the country since the war started in April of last year, when simmering tensions between the military and the group exploded into open fighting in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere. Describing the hourslong attack, three residents said hundreds of RSF fighters stormed the village on Thursday, looting and burning houses and public properties. The offensive came after the residents put up resistance and repelled an attack by a small group of RSF fighters, said a health care worker at the local medical center. The group retreated, but hundreds of RSF fighters in pickup trucks with automatic rifles and heavy weapons returned, according to the worker and another resident.

As of Friday, the medical center had received at least 80 bodies, including 24 women and minors, said the worker. Mohamed Tajal-Amin, a villager, said he saw seven bodies in the street Friday. "The Janjaweed are in the street and people are not able to recover their dead and bury them," he said, using the name of the Arab militias that became synonymous with genocide and war crimes in Darfur two decades ago and from which the RSF sprang. RSF spokespeople didn't return requests for comment Saturday. Sudan's war has created the world's largest displacement crisis. More than 10.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began, according to the International Organization for Migration. Over 2 million of them went to neighboring countries.

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