Assault on el-Fasher hospital reported in waves - may Allah protect the innocent
As-salamu alaykum. I’m sharing this because it’s heartbreaking and I hope we can pray for those affected. According to health officials, armed groups attacked a hospital in el-Fasher, Darfur, in several waves. They reportedly took doctors and nurses, and then returned to kill staff, patients and people sheltering there. The assault is said to be part of a wider offensive by a powerful paramilitary group that recently seized the city after a long siege.
Witnesses describe fighters going house-to-house, killing civilians and committing sexual violence. Details have been slow to come, and the full death toll isn’t clear yet. The fall of el-Fasher marks a grim new chapter in the two-year conflict between the paramilitary force and the Sudanese military. UN figures put the war’s death toll at over 40,000, though many aid groups believe the real number is far higher. More than 14 million people have been displaced and disease outbreaks and famine have hit large parts of the country, including areas of Darfur.
Communications are largely down in el-Fasher, which is deep in a semi-desert region far from Khartoum. Most aid groups have had to pull out. Some survivors have made it to a refugee camp near Tawila, about 40 miles away, but many more are still unaccounted for. One aid group said more than 62,000 people fled el-Fasher over a few days, but only a fraction reached the camp, raising fears for tens of thousands left behind.
A 70-year-old woman named Fatima told reporters she fled with her grandchildren just before the city fell. She described a five-day escape hiding in trenches and behind walls, running under fire, being carried at times by companions, and suffering extreme thirst and hunger. She said she saw fighters kill young men bringing food into the city and passed many bodies on the roads. She and others tried to hide the sight from children and pull injured people to the roadside hoping someone would come to help.
Aid workers at the Tawila camp report arrivals with broken limbs, severe malnutrition and signs of sexual violence. Many children have come without parents. Health officials say the city’s main hospital had been providing limited care during the siege but was attacked multiple times. Reporters and health spokespeople describe gunmen abducting medical staff on the first visit, returning to kill on a second, and coming back a third time to finish off survivors who had taken refuge there. Some disturbing videos from the hospital have circulated, though independent verification of every detail is limited. The armed group has denied responsibility and released footage claiming fighters were caring for patients.
WHO staff say there is now essentially no humanitarian health presence left in el-Fasher and access is blocked. The capture of the city gives the paramilitary group control over most of Darfur, heightening fears of further ethnic-based attacks and wider fragmentation of the country. This group and allied militias have been accused in past years of mass killings and rapes as they expanded control across Sudan.
Please make dua for the victims, the displaced, and those doing what they can to help. May Allah grant patience and justice to the afflicted, protect the innocent, and guide those with power to act to stop this suffering.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/