The city in the Darfur region was the scene of "a wave of intense violence" after the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces sought control of the town last October, the United Nations Human Rights Office said in a report published in the last few hours.
First modification: 02/14/2026 - 22:26
The spiral of violence in Sudan left profound consequences in Al-Fashir, a city that witnessed the offensive of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR). The paramilitaries took the town last October with violence that left more than 6,000 people murdered.
The figures were known in a report published by the United Nations Human Rights Office last Friday. The incursion lasted three days and unleashed "a wave of intense violence, shocking in its scale and brutality," the agency said.
The paramilitary group committed atrocities that are equivalent to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, the UN body added.
"The rampant violations that were carried out by the FAR and allied Arab militia in the offensive against Al-Fashir underscore that persistent impunity fuels continuing cycles of violence," said High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
The United Nations documented the deaths of at least 4,400 people within the city between October 25 and 27. In addition, he added that more than 1,600 were killed when they tried to flee.
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The death toll was obtained through analysis of "contemporary" satellite images and video footage, along with "consistent" interviews with 140 victims. The report also warns that the number of deaths is "undoubtedly significantly higher."
Heavy weapons and sexual violence
According to the report, FAR militias used heavy weapons against a crowd of 1,000 people sheltering in a local university dormitory on October 26. There, about 500 people died. In another case, nearly 600 people – 50 of them children – were executed on those dates while they were hiding in the educational institution.
This report leaves out at least 460 people who died on October 28, when paramilitaries attacked a Saudi maternity hospital.
Another 300 people were also killed during shelling and drone attacks on the Abu Shouk displaced persons camp, more than two kilometers from Al-Fashir.
Sexual violence was also used as a weapon by combatants and armed militias, including individual and gang rape against women and girls from the non-Arab African Zaghawa tribes, whom they accused of having links to the Sudanese Army.
According to Türk, who visited Sudan last month, survivors gave details about how these practices were "systematically used as a weapon of war."
The FAR and allied Arab Janjaweed militias invaded al-Fashir, the Army's last stronghold in Darfur, on October 26 to end more than 18 months of siege.
Mohamed 'Hemdeti' Dagalo has acknowledged that there were excesses by his men and stated that he will investigate and punish the guilty, but there was no further news on the matter.
With AP
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