Around 70 people were killed and 19 others injured in an attack on the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, according to the World Health Organization. The hospital, the only functional medical facility in the besieged North Darfur city, was targeted amid intensified fighting in the country’s ongoing civil war.
The attack, which occurred Saturday, was reported by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on social media. Tedros described the incident as “appalling” and called for an end to attacks on healthcare facilities in Sudan.
Local officials blamed the assault on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group locked in a brutal conflict with Sudan’s military under Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan. The Sudanese Foreign Ministry alleged the RSF launched a drone strike on the hospital’s emergency ward, calling it a “massacre.”
“The hospital was packed with patients receiving care at the time of the attack,” Tedros said.
Another health facility in Al Malha was also attacked Saturday, further complicating access to medical care in the war-torn region.
El Fasher, located more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of Khartoum, has been under siege by the RSF since May 2024, according to the United Nations. The U.N. reported in December that 782 civilians had died and over 1,140 were injured due to the blockade, although officials say the actual numbers could be higher.
The Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital has come under repeated shelling due to its location near the front lines. Despite the danger, medical staff continue to operate under dire conditions, sometimes performing surgeries with only cellphone light.
The attack came as the RSF faced losses to Burhan’s forces, which claimed to have seized the Khartoum refinery, Sudan’s largest, from RSF control. Burhan’s troops also broke an RSF siege on the Signal Corps headquarters in northern Khartoum, military officials said.
The refinery, located north of Khartoum, is a vital economic resource for both Sudan and neighboring South Sudan.
Burhan, who visited the military’s General Command headquarters in Khartoum for the first time since fighting erupted in April 2023, said his forces are determined to “eliminate the rebellion.”
Sudan’s civil war began in April 2023 after a power struggle between Burhan and RSF leader Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo escalated into open conflict. The RSF has been accused of human rights abuses, including attacks on ethnic African communities in Darfur.
The RSF evolved from the Janjaweed militia, which was accused of committing genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s under former dictator Omar al-Bashir.
The conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, displaced millions, and left large parts of the country on the brink of famine.
Despite international efforts, including sanctions and accusations of genocide by the U.S., there has been no resolution to the fighting.
