Dozens killed in attack on hospital – WHO

Seventy people have died after the facility in the besieged Sudanese town of El-Fasher was hit, a top official has sad

Dozens of people have been killed and injured in Sudan during the latest attack on a hospital facility in the war-torn African nation’s Darfur region, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday. The country has been embroiled in a civil war for nearly two years. 

The warring tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over the country’s planned transition to civilian rule have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people since mid-April 2023 and have forced millions to be displaced.

“The appalling attack on Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, led to 19 injuries and 70 deaths among patients and companions,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X, emphasizing that it was the only functional hospital in the city.

The top official stressed that the facility was “packed with patients receiving care” at the time of the attack, adding that another health facility in Al Malha also was struck on Saturday.

Ghebreyesus urged a cessation of all attacks on healthcare sites in the African state, having called for full access for the restoration of facilities that have been damaged amid the fighting.

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The WHO chief did not identify which of Sudan’s warring parties launched the most recent attack. Local officials had previously blamed the RSF for the assault.

The paramilitary RSF has seized vast territories in the country’s western region of Darfur since the conflict broke out nearly two years ago. El-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, has been besieged by the RSF since May, but army-aligned armed groups have repeatedly pushed its fighters back, preventing them from claiming the city.

Numerous attempts at a ceasefire agreement, mediated by Saudi Arabia and the US in Jeddah, including ones agreed upon by the warring sides, have all ultimately collapsed. The UN has repeatedly warned that Sudan is on the verge of famine.