Dozens killed, injured as shelling hits North Darfur camp

March 4, 2025 (EL FASHER) – Dozens of people were killed or injured on Tuesday when artillery shelling hit the Abu Shouk displacement camp in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, a camp official said.

The camp, which houses more than half a million displaced people and is located in the northern part of El Fasher, has been subjected to daily shelling by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), leading to the displacement of about 70% of its residents, according to local leaders.

Thousands of homes, water sources, and medical facilities have also been destroyed.

The Abu Shouk camp’s media officer told Sudan Tribune that “more than 80 people were killed or injured in artillery shelling by the RSF on the camp.”

He said the shells struck the camp’s main market, a crowded civilian area, as well as homes and shelters built by the displaced for protection.

Most of the victims were women, children, and the elderly, he said, describing the situation in the camp as catastrophic due to severe shortages of life-saving medicines and the shutdown of health centres because of insecurity.

In December, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared a famine in Abu Shouk camp, along with five other areas in Sudan.

Security and humanitarian conditions in large parts of North Darfur continue to worsen due to violent attacks by the RSF on villages near the state capital, which has been under a tight siege for nearly a year.