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30 killed in drone attack on hospital in Sudan's Darfur: medical source

Africa

By AFP | Jan 25, 2025

A picture taken on January 19, 2025 shows a general view of damaged shops and houses in Sudan's Al-Jazira state capital Wad Madani following its takeover by the army from paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The Sudanese army, at war with rival paramilitaries since April 2023, led an offensive last week on Al-Jazira state, recapturing its capital Wad Madani from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).[AFP]

A drone attack on one of the last functioning hospitals in El-Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region killed 30 people and injured dozens, a medical source said Saturday.

The bombing of the Saudi Hospital on Friday evening "led to the destruction" of the hospital's building where emergency cases were treated, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation.

It was not immediately clear which of Sudan's warring sides had launched the attack.

Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who have seized nearly the entire vast western region of Darfur.

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They have besieged El-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, since May, but have not managed to claim the city, where army-aligned militias have repeatedly pushed them back.

According to the medical source, the same building had been hit by an RSF drone "a few weeks ago".

Attacks on health care have been rampant in El-Fasher, where medical charity Doctors Without Borders said this month the Saudi Hospital was "the only public hospital with surgical capacity still standing".

Across the country, up to 80 percent of health care facilities have been forced out of service, according to official figures.

The war has so far killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 12 million and brought millions to the brink of mass starvation.

In the area around El-Fasher, famine has already taken hold in three displacement camps -- Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam -- and is expected to expand to five more areas including the city itself by May, according to a UN-backed assessment.