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Horrifying images taken after the latest massacre in Sudan's civil war show huge swathes of sand stained red with blood and piles of bodies. It comes after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary force, launched a deadly assault on El Fasher in the Darfur region of Sudan yesterday. The group ousted Sudan's army from its last stronghold in the region in the latest bloody battle of a two-year civil war. More than 2,000 civilians were killed, according to analysis by Yale University , after the army's withdrawal from the city of El Fasher - leaving more than a quarter of a million people, half of those children, under the control of the paramilitaries. Analysis of aerial images of the city's Daraja Oula neighbourhood show "clustered of objects consistent with the size of human bodies" and "reddish ground discolouration", according to analysts from the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL). Satellite images show light and dark shapes, around two metres long each, lying beside pick-up trucks and sand berms, strewn across the ground. Comparison with earlier images from the region, prior to the deadly episode, showed that the reddish stains weren't visible - indicating the likely chance they are pools of blood. Vehicles can also be seen blocking side streets nearby after what investigators have said were "door-to-door clearance operations". At least five separate piles of bodies appear around the city's perimeter, where witnesses claim civilians were shot as they tried to flee. "El Fasher appears to be in a systematic and intentional process of ethnic cleansing of indigenous non-Arab communities through forced displacement and summary execution," explained the team from Yale. Local militia who fought alongside the army said the RSF "committed heinous crimes against innocent civilians", as they said most victims were women, children and the elderly. The Sudanese army's Joint Forces said that in the space of 48 hours more than 2,000 civilians were "executed and killed". Footage posted on social media since Sunday shows RSF fighters celebrating in and around the former army base in El Fasher, with one video claiming to show the paramilitary group's deputy commander, Abdulrahim Dagalo, telling followers not to loot or target civilians. However, other shocking footage shows RSF fighters shooting and beating people who attempted to flee, gunning down captives at point-blank range, with one particularly chilling video showing a child soldier shooting a man and another showing rebels pretending to release prisoners before executing them. RSF fighters were heard shouting a racist term used to refer to African tribes in Darfur as slaves. The UN Human Rights Office said it had received “multiple, alarming reports that the RSF are carrying out atrocities, including summary executions”. Military officials confirmed troops had left the base on Sunday, retreating to another defence line under heavy RSF shelling and artillery. By late Monday, military chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan said military officers decided to withdraw from the city entirely in the hopes of sparing civilians from further violence. In a televised speech, he said the army retreated because of the "systemic destruction, and the systemic killing of civilians" by the RSF, adding that the army hoped to "spare the citizens and the rest of the city from destruction". He continued: "We are determined to avenge what happened to our people in El Fasher. We, as the Sudanese people, will hold these criminals accountable." British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We are witnessing a deeply disturbing pattern of abuses in El Fasher, including systematic killings, torture, and sexual violence.” RSF fighters rampaged through El Fasher, looting hospitals and other medical facilities, and "destroying what remained of essential life-supporting and health care infrastructure", said the Sudan Doctor Network in a statement. The Darfur Network for Human Rights said the RSF captured more than 1,000 civilians, describing the horrific attack as "systematic targeting of civilians, arbitrary detentions and potential acts amounting to war crimes". Among those detained was a local journalist, one of the few left in the city, according to the Sudanese Journalists' Union. The group warned of potential "mass violations" in El Fasher, similar to the atrocities in Geneina in 2023, when RSF fighters killed hundreds. The Doctors' Union, a professional group of Sudanese doctors, said RSF turned El Fasher into a 'brutal killing field', saying the group's actions in Sudan were a "barbaric policy that aims at terrorising and annihilating civilians". The group urged the international community to classify the RSF as a terrorist organisation.
