Sudan: Death Toll in Khartoum Market Carnage Hits 47

Khartoum — The death toll from Sunday’s attack on Qouro Market in southern Khartoum, billed as the highest civilian death toll of any incident since the start of the war in April, has risen to 47, according the Southern Belt Emergency Room in Khartoum. In Omdurman, violent clashes persisted between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Sawrat and El Omda neighbourhoods on Tuesday. The Nasir Extension Resistance Committees reported three new cases of rape in Khartoum.

The Southern Belt* Emergency Room reported that the death toll of Sunday’s Qouro Market massacre in southern Khartoum rose to 47 people, after one of the injured passed away at Bashayer University Hospital on Monday . As reported by Radio Dabanga, ‘a military aircraft’ launched a devastating attack with “explosive weapons” on Qouro Market in Mayo neighbourhood on Sunday morning.

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières / MSF) reported this morning that they treated over 100 wounded, while 49 people were killed, following raids at two separate locations in Khartoum. MSF clarified that the initial raid occurred in Haj Yousef on Saturday, while the other targeted Qouro Market on Sunday.

The SAF announced its ongoing operations in El Azuzab, Yasrib, and Jabra neighbourhoods in southern Khartoum in a statement on Tuesday.

In Omdurman, violent clashes persisted between the Sudanese army (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Sawrat and El Omda neighbourhoods on Tuesday. Sources reported casualties and damage in Karari locality of Omdurman due to artillery shelling.

Civilians harassed

El Omda Residents’ Union decried the complete plundering of the northern part of El Omda neighbourhood in Omdurman by members of the Sudanese army. The statement published on Monday highlights that “these violations extend beyond plundering and include attacks on civilians, with two residents sustaining gunshot wounds”. In another incident, a drunken soldier reportedly pursued a resident with his weapon, nearly resulting in a fatality if not for the intervention of another soldier.

The statement emphasises that several SAF commanders were notified about these incidents but did not take action to resolve the matter.

For its part, in a statement issued on Monday, the RSF accused the army of continuously plundering homes and harassing civilians in areas under the SAF’s control in Omdurman. The statement alleges that these actions are based on “regional, ethnic, and tribal grounds”.

Hostilities continue to show no signs of abating in Khartoum as clashes resumed between the SAF and the RSF throughout the last two weeks.

In Khartoum, the Nasir Extension Resistance Committees reported three new cases of rape in the neighbourhood on Monday and accused the RSF of being responsible for these crimes.

The Combating Violence against Women and Children Unit (CVAW) previously reported on August 7 that the number of documented cases of sexual violence in Khartoum since the outbreak of war had reached 60 cases, with four new confirmed cases registered by the unit.

* Khartoum’s Southern Belt is part of the periphery of the capital inhabited by people earlier displaced by wars in Darfur, Kordofan, and Blue Nile region and South Sudanese refugees, and by impoverished farmers from various parts of the country who lost their lands to banks.