At least 600 killed in clashes in Sudan’s El Fasher: local official

KHARTOUM, July 23 (Xinhua) — At least 600 people have been killed since May 10 in the ongoing clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Fasher, the capital city of Sudan’s North Darfur State, a local official said on Tuesday.
“According to official records, at least 600 people have been killed and about 4,500 injured,” Ibrahim Khatir, director-general of North Darfur State’s Health Ministry, told Xinhua.
He noted that the death toll could be even higher as “some victims were directly buried by their families without going to hospitals.”
Khatir described the health situation in El Fasher as “relatively stable,” despite most hospitals and health centers in the city being closed due to artillery shelling.
Sudan has been engulfed in a deadly conflict between the SAF and the RSF since April 2023, resulting in the loss of at least 16,650 lives, according to an update by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in June.
Data published by the UN International Organization for Migration in June showed that more than 7.7 million individuals had been internally displaced within Sudan since the conflict began, with approximately 2.2 million others seeking refuge in neighboring countries. ■