Hundreds killed inside maternity hospital in Sudan

Hundreds of people were executed inside a maternity hospital in El Fasher, according to the World Health Organization, as doctors and aid workers report thousands killed across the city after Rapid Support Forces seized control amid the ongoing civil war.

The WHO said the hospital, the only partially functioning facility in El Fasher, was attacked on Tuesday. About 460 patients and relatives were shot and killed inside, and six health workers, including four doctors, a nurse, and a pharmacist, were abducted.

Two days earlier, the same hospital was hit for the fourth time in a month, killing one nurse and wounding three others. Since the conflict began, at least 46 health workers have been killed in El Fasher and another 48 injured, the WHO said.

The RSF announced on Sunday that it had seized the army’s main base and now controlled the city. Sudanese army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan confirmed on Monday that his forces had withdrawn “to a safer location.”

Norway’s VG reported that more than 2,000 people in and around El Fasher have been killed within two days. The outlet said it reviewed dozens of RSF videos showing large numbers of bodies but could not independently confirm the death toll.

The Sudan Doctors Network accused the RSF of turning hospitals into “human slaughterhouses.” It said patients, wounded people, and medical staff were executed inside the Saudi Hospital and described the events as “a true genocide based on ethnicity.”

According to the group, roughly 1,500 civilians were killed in three days while attempting to flee the city. It said the atrocities are being “broadcast openly by the perpetrators in an act of defiance.”

The WHO said El Fasher’s health system is collapsing. More than 260,000 people remain trapped with almost no access to food, clean water, or medical care. Another 28,000 have fled in recent days, mostly to surrounding rural areas.

The WHO called for an immediate end to hostilities, protection for civilians and health workers, and safe humanitarian access.

Sudan’s war began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, with El Fasher now at the center of one of its deadliest episodes.