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Cairo: Aid agencies fear the fate of tens of thousands of people who tried to flee the city of El Fasher as it fell to rebel forces in Sudan this week after only 5000 reached the safety of a nearby town. Satellite photos revealed groups of bodies across the city and beside a dirt wall built by fighters to trap people inside. More than 62,000 people are believed to have fled El Fasher between Sunday and Wednesday, as powerful paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) finally captured the key city in the Darfur region, having besieged it for 18 months. But far fewer people have made it to the safety of a refugee camp in Tawila, 65 kilometres away, the United Nations migration agency said. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs the camp, says only about 5000 people have arrived this week. That has raised fears for the safety of the others who are believed to have fled, amid witness reports that fighters went house-to-house after they entered the city, killing civilians and committing sexual assaults in a rampage. Groups of gunmen also reportedly killed at least 460 people at a hospital in the city this week, attacking in waves, the World Health Organisation said, abducting doctors and nurses, then gunning down staff, patients and people sheltering there.
