Sudan: Rapid Support Forces attack in western Darfur kills at least 30, according to activist group

It is only the latest in a series of attacks in the Darfur region in war-torn Sudan.

On Sunday, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched an attack on el-Fasher, provincial capital of North Darfur, killing mor than 30 people, according to an activist group.

The region in Sudan's west has seen a growing number of attacks in recent months as the war between the RSF and the government armed forces has entered its third year.

Dozens of other people were wounded in the attack, said the Resistance Committees group, which tracks the war. The RSF renewed its attack on Monday, shelling residential buildings and open markets in the city, the group said.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

El-Fasher, more than 800 kilometers southwest of the capital, Khartoum, is under the control of the military, which has fought the RSF since Sudan descended into civil war more than two years ago, killing more than than 24,000 people, according to the United Nations, though activists say the number is likely far higher.

Since then, it has launched many attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts.

The city is now estimated to be home to more than 1 million people, many of whom have been displaced by the ongoing war and previous bouts of violence in Darfur.

The attacks on el-Fasher have intensified in recent months as the RSF suffered battlefield setbacks in Khartoum and other urban areas in the county’s east and center.

Sunday’s violence came less than a week after a two-day attack by the RSF and its allied militias on the city and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, according to the United Nations. Last week’s attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp, Sudan’s largest, which has become inaccessible to aid workers, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.