At least 127 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Sudan
on Monday and Tuesday by barrel bombs and shelling from the warring sides,
rights activists said.
The 20-month-old war between the army and the paramilitary
Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been turning increasingly bloody as ceasefire
efforts have stalled, and crises elsewhere have dominated world attention.
The army has stepped up airstrikes in the half of the
country that the RSF controls, while the RSF has staged raids on
villages and intense artillery
strikes. Both have targeted densely populated civilian
areas.
More than eight barrel bombs hit the market in the North
Darfur town of Kabkabiya on Monday, the pro-democracy Al-Fashir Resistance
Committee said. Emergency Lawyers, a human rights group, said more than 100 had
been killed and hundreds wounded.
The army has frequently targeted towns in North Darfur with
airstrikes as it fights the RSF for control of the state capital, al-Fashir,
its last foothold in the region.
It denied responsibility for the attack on Kabkabiya, while
insisting that it had the right to target any location used by the RSF for
military purposes. The RSF did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
An image shared by Emergency Lawyers showed shrouded bodies
in a mass grave.
Video verified by Reuters showed bloodied bodies strewn
around the market. It also showed fires burning and people being carried from
the wreckage of stores and fruit stalls.
People can be heard crying and screaming in the footage,
while others pray for those who were killed. One man is heard saying
"People are dying wholesale".
The video also shows armed men in the headwraps typically
worn by RSF soldiers on motorcycles.
An activist from Kabkabiya said that, while there were
typically a few soldiers in the market and other parts of the town, the vast
majority of those present were civilians.
He said 87 bodies had been identified, but that some were
too charred or mutilated to identify.
On Tuesday, the RSF aimed heavy artillery fire at an
army-controlled sector of Omdurman, part of Khartoum state, residents said.
Emergency Lawyers said at least 20 people had been killed,
including at least 14 who were riding on a bus that was hit. The state
government, controlled by the army, said 65 people had been killed, and that
other casualties had been transferred to nearby Al-Naw Hospital.
Images circulating on social media not verified by Reuters
showed shrouded bodies on the street amid vehicle wreckage.
The United Nations has said more than 30 million people need
aid, and some 12 million have fled their homes.
Famine has been declared in Zamzam camp in North Darfur,
where shelling on Tuesday killed seven people, according to Adam Rojal,
spokesperson of the Coordinating Committee for Displaced People.