Assalamu Alaikum - Satellite Images Indicate Possible Mass Graves in El-Fasher, Sudan
Assalamu alaikum. New satellite images appear to show signs consistent with mass graves in El-Fasher, Yale researchers reported, a little over a week after reports of mass killings in the area. On October 26, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting Sudan’s army for more than two years, took control of El-Fasher after an 18-month siege.
The imagery reportedly shows patterns matching door-to-door killings, possible mass graves, blood-stained zones, and bodies seen along an earthen berm. These findings line up with eyewitness accounts and videos shared by those involved in the takeover. Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab said it found evidence it described as “body disposal activities,” noting at least two earth disturbances consistent with mass graves near a mosque and the former Children’s Hospital. The report also mentions long trenches and the disappearance of clusters of objects that look like bodies around the hospital, the mosque, and other parts of the city - suggesting bodies placed there were later moved.
Satellite images also indicated body disposal or removal at Al-Saudi Hospital, where the World Health Organization reported the tragic deaths of more than 460 patients and medical staff during the city’s capture. The report cautioned that the size of a potential mass grave can’t reliably indicate how many bodies are interred, since people disposing of bodies often stack them.
Fresh imagery near the former children’s hospital - which the RSF reportedly uses now as a detention site - raises concern about ongoing mass killings in that area. Before El-Fasher fell, researchers had mostly seen individual burials in areas controlled by either side, which matched local burial practices. Since the city’s capture, the lab says it identified at least 34 object groups in images that are consistent with bodies, and it believes that number likely underestimates the true scale.
The conflict in Sudan, which started in April 2023, pits the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against those of his former deputy, RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. Violence has hit Darfur hard, especially after the fall of El-Fasher, and fighting has spread to Kordofan, which is still under army control. With access blocked and communications disrupted, satellite imagery remains one of the few ways to monitor what’s happening in these isolated areas.
May Allah grant patience and protection to the people affected and guide those who can help to do what is right.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/