Satellite images reveal a horrifying scene in el-Fasher, Sudan, where thousands of bodies lie in the streets following a brutal attack by paramilitary fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). 

 

The city, home to 250,000 people, has been trapped behind a sand barrier erected during an 18-month siege. Experts estimate that tens of thousands have been killed in the past week.

 

Eyewitnesses report intense violence after the Sudanese military withdrew. Mutaz Mohamed Musa, who escaped to Tawila, said civilians were targeted directly. “They opened direct fire on civilians. It was extremely intense and people scattered in all directions,” Musa said. He described RSF fighters executing people in front of him. “They would ask a man to run. Once you start running, they shoot you.”

 

Humanitarian officials report that only a small number of people have escaped. Arjan Hehenkamp from the International Rescue Committee said about 5,000 reached Tawila, mostly women and children. Justine Muzik Piquemal of Solidarites International added that many are trekking across the desert to avoid militias. “Along the road the women are being raped. They have nothing with them,” she said.

 

Social media videos verified by several media outlets show RSF fighters walking among burning vehicles and piles of bodies. In one clip, a fighter says, “We killed them. They are just dust now.” Another video shows a commander, identified as Abu Lulu, shooting men sitting on the ground.

 

The fighting began in April 2023 between Sudanese military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and his former deputy, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the RSF. Their split over power sharing sparked the ongoing conflict, which has displaced over 14 million people and left parts of Sudan, including el-Fasher, facing famine.

 

Satellite analysis by Nathaniel Raymond of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab shows “activity that suggests mass killing on a level that can only be compared to Rwanda.” Images reveal bodies piling up in streets and compounds, with pools of blood visible. Raymond said, “We are in the tens of thousands in terms of all the body-consistent objects on the ground. They are moving like a wood chipper, and they are killing everything that moves.”

 

The RSF claims to have launched investigations and arrested fighters for human rights violations, including Abu Lulu. Experts warn, however, that the group, which grew out of the Janjaweed militias responsible for the Darfur genocide in the 2000s, appears to be finishing the liquidation of the region.

 

“This is the final battle of the Darfur genocide,” Raymond said. The situation in el-Fasher highlights the devastating human cost as Sudan faces one of its worst humanitarian crises in history.