Shelling in Omdurman kills four, wounds dozens, mostly children – officials

March 16, 2025 (OMDURMAN) – Shelling in the Karari area north of Omdurman killed at least four people and wounded 30, most of them children, the Khartoum state government said on Saturday. The government blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the attack.

State media, in a statement, said the RSF used a rocket launcher to shell the western Al-Thawra neighbourhoods during Tarawih prayers. Al-Nau Hospital was still receiving casualties, the statement added.

Khartoum Governor Ahmed Osman Hamza, who visited the injured, said: “Whenever the militia is defeated on the battlefield, it resorts to taking revenge on civilians.”

The shelling hit residential areas 29, 43, and 50 in Al-Murkhiyat, including a football field where children were playing, and also struck people inside their homes, according to the government.

Acting Health Minister Fath al-Rahman Muhammad al-Amin said the dead included a man, a woman, and two children. Eighteen of the 30 wounded were children between the ages of 4 and 12, he added.

The RSF has repeatedly shelled neighbourhoods, markets, and hospitals in Karari, which is in northern Omdurman, from positions in western Omdurman. The shelling has caused dozens of civilian deaths, according to local officials.

A volunteer at Al-Nau Hospital, Mu’min Wad Zainab, said in a Facebook post immediately after the shelling that one child had been killed and more than 20 people injured, including 10 children. Sudan Tribune could not independently verify this account.

Earlier on Saturday, central Khartoum saw clashes between the army and the RSF, with the army saying it had captured key positions.

The army has been fighting for months to gain full control of the capital. It has reported taking control of all Bahri and East Nile localities and large parts of Omdurman, Umbada, and Khartoum localities.