“The streets were filled with corpses”: Stories from Al-Fashir’s massacre

The city of Al-Fashir and its surrounding camps have recently become the scene of horrific crimes and destruction, where the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have unleashed unprecedented violence, and survivors have only narrowly escaped certain death. In the streets of Al-Fashir, the stench of death fills the air, and the bodies of the slain lie stacked together, while soldiers, drunk on the blood of innocents, revel in their atrocities.

The online portal Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that Al-Fashir, a densely populated city in western Sudan, had been gradually approaching collapse over the past 18 months.

After a long and intense siege, the RSF launched a large-scale assault, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians in the city and nearby camps. To break Al-Fashir’s resistance, the forces had to besiege a city located amid vast deserts and high mountains, facing thousands of Sudanese army soldiers entrenched in the Sixth Division headquarters, supported by groups of former rebels who had signed the peace agreement.

Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, is surrounded by three major refugee camps housing people displaced by previous Darfur conflicts. On the morning of Sunday, October 26, as the city fell completely to the RSF, tragedies unfolded that many witnesses described as “cold-blooded and ruthless massacres, mixed with hatred and a thirst for revenge.”

Marwa Suleiman, a mother of six who had previously lived in Zamzam camp and fled to Al-Fashir after its fall, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “During the siege, I repeatedly witnessed civilians being killed with all kinds of weapons. But when they entered the city, killing people became a form of entertainment. They attacked homes and shot at residents from close range without saying a word.”

She recounted losing her 28-year-old son that bloody morning: “When I heard the gunfire, my son begged them not to kill him. I heard him fall, but I couldn’t help him. I just stayed silent and grabbed my other children to escape. The soldiers looted our house, and I had to flee through another route.”

Marwa said with a trembling voice: “I had told him not to go out of Al-Fashir to avoid getting caught, but when they entered, they killed men, women, and children alike. On our escape route, the streets were full of corpses, the cries of the wounded could be heard everywhere, and people ran in complete terror.”

Haroun Hamed, another survivor, said he had fled the city two days before its fall, but his brother and sister-in-law remained because they had heard that escape routes were targeted, with fleeing individuals killed and women assaulted.

He continued: “When the forces found my brother’s house, they dragged him out and shot him on the spot. When his wife screamed, they killed her too. They went from house to house, killing people. Within hours, the streets were full of men, women, and children. They said all residents of the city were enemies and had to die.”

Zeinab Ibrahim also told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that her husband was killed in front of her eyes at the “Hajiz al-Mawt” (Death Barrier), which had become a field execution site for escapees: “When we fled the city, my husband had put our belongings in an old bag. At the checkpoint, they insulted us with racist slurs, separated men from women, humiliated the women, and released them, but kept all the men. Not even a few steps away, we heard the gunfire; they killed all of them.”

She sobbed: “We could feel death at our doorstep. The soldiers took pleasure in killing people. After finishing their battle with the army, they emptied their bullets into the chests of civilians.”

Aisha Yaqoub recounted her escape: “We were fleeing with a group of refugees when an enemy armored vehicle arrived and targeted us with machine guns. We survived by sheer luck. Many of our companions were soaked in blood. We heard the soldiers’ cries of victory as bodies of women and children fell to the ground.”

The Preliminary Committee of the Sudan Doctors Union announced on Wednesday that the “Al-Fashir massacre” killed 2,000 civilians within the first few hours of the assault. The committee reported that many survivors were burned alive, over 177,000 remain under siege, and within 48 hours more than 28,000 people fled the city, though most escape routes remained under fire, with only a thousand reaching the town of Tawila.

Heba Omar, head of the Sudan Doctors Union, described the situation in Al-Fashir as a “full-scale humanitarian disaster”, noting: “Thousands still remain in the city. Hunger, thirst, and death threaten them, and numerous summary executions and beheadings have been reported.”

The Sudan Doctors Network stated that the RSF massacred hundreds of civilians over three days. Spokesperson Mohamed Faisal said: “What happened in Al-Fashir constitutes an ethnic and racial crime and is a full-fledged crime against humanity. People were killed in streets and homes, and many videos of these crimes have been shared on social media.” He added that RSF forces executed dozens of patients and wounded individuals in the Saudi Hospital and Al-Fashir Hospital, raided clinics, and kidnapped doctors for ransom.

The World Health Organization also confirmed that over 460 patients and companions were killed in Al-Fashir’s Saudi Hospital. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom wrote on X: “We are deeply shocked and saddened by reports of the killing of 460 patients and companions at Saudi Hospital and the abduction of health workers.”