CAIRO, Aug 18, (AP): Fighters from Sudan's paramilitary group rampaged through a central village, looting and burning and killing at least 85 people, including women and children, authorities and residents said Saturday, the latest atrocity in the country’s 18-month devastating conflict.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began attacking Galgani in the central province of Sennar late in July and last week RSF fighters "indiscriminately opened fire on the village’s unarmed residents” after they resisted attempts to abduct and sexually assault women and girls, Sudan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. More than 150 villagers were wounded, it said.
The RSF has been repeatedly accused of massacres, rapes and other gross violations across the country since the war started in April last year, when simmering tensions between the military and the group exploded into open fighting in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere.
Describing the hourslong attack, three residents said hundreds of RSF fighters stormed the village on Thursday, looting and burning houses and public properties.
The offensive came after the residents put up resistance and repelled an attack by a small group of RSF fighters, according to a health care worker at the local medical center who spoke to The Associated Press.
The group retreated but hundreds of RSF fighters in dozens of pickup trucks with automatic rifles and heavy weapons returned, according to the worker and another resident.
As of Friday, the medical center had received at least 80 bodies, including 24 women and minors, said the worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for his safety.