At least eight killed in Sudan’s Al Jazirah state attack

August 16, 2024 (ABU KUTA) – At least eight people were killed on Friday in an attack by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a town in the Al Jazirah state, a local resistance committee said.

The RSF has conducted punitive raids on dozens of villages in Al Jazirah since February, after taking control of most of the state late last year. These incursions have involved killings, looting, arrests and forced displacement, rights groups and residents say.

Friday’s attack targeted the village of Qoz Al-Naqa in the Abu Kuta area, the resistance committee said in a statement. The RSF used military vehicles and the village had no military presence, it added.

The RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Al Jazeera state has been cut off from communications and internet since February and faces severe food shortages.

In June, the RSF attacked the town of Wad Al-Nura, also in Al Jazirah, killing more than 100 people, according to witnesses and activists. The incident drew international condemnation and calls for an investigation.