RSF drone strike on El Fasher market kills and injures over 27 civilians

September 24, 2025 (EL FASHER) – A drone strike by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a market in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, killed and wounded more than 27 civilians on Tuesday, activists said.

The attack is the latest in a series of deadly strikes on the besieged city, where the RSF has recently deployed more powerful drones capable of penetrating underground fortifications, according to local sources.

These drones have destroyed shelters used by the Sudanese army and its allied forces and have also targeted displacement centres, allowing RSF fighters to advance deeper into the city’s neighbourhoods.

The El Fasher Resistance Committees, an activist group, called the market strike a “new crime added to the bloody record” of the RSF. The attack was part of a systematic campaign “to subdue the resistant city and break the will of its inhabitants,” the group said in a statement.

Traders in the city said RSF drones have been systematically targeting small shops and alternative markets for the last three days in an attempt to destroy remaining food supplies.

“More than five small shops were completely destroyed and their owners killed,” Mohamed Suleiman, a local trader, told Sudan Tribune. He said Tuesday’s attack on the Abu Qurun station market killed at least 12 civilians and “completely destroyed” the market.

The RSF has besieged El Fasher since April 2024, blocking food and medicine and causing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that has forced thousands to flee, according to residents and aid groups.

The assault on civilian infrastructure has included the destruction of the city’s main markets, health facilities, and water sources in what locals describe as a campaign of forced displacement.

On September 19, a drone attack on a mosque killed more than 75 people during dawn prayers, sparking international condemnation and calls for accountability.