Elfashir, Feb 2(Darfur24)The death toll from renewed fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, has risen, amid expectations that the conflict between the two parties will continue.
The army initiated an attack on the bases of the Rapid Support Forces RSF in northeastern El Fasher, on Thursday, an attack that is inseparable from the context of the army’s shift from defending its military bases throughout the outbreak of the war nearly 10 months ago.
A medical source revealed to “Darfur 24” that “5 people were killed and 21 others were injured, as a result of clashes between the army and the Rapid Support, according to the records of Al-Fasher Southern Hospital.”
He pointed out that among the dead were a woman and her child, who died as a result of a shell falling on their house in the Al-Nasr neighborhood, northeast of the city.
Military sources who spoke to Darfur 24 expected battles to continue between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the coming days.
Hundreds of civilians fled from the eastern neighborhoods of Al-Fasher and Abu Shouk camp for displaced persons to the southern neighborhoods and Zamzam camp to escape the fighting, while shops and bakeries closed their doors to residents who find it extremely difficult to communicate with their families after communication networks were partially cut off.
The city of El Fasher includes the headquarters of the army’s Sixth Division, which is the only remaining army base in Darfur after the Rapid Support Forces took control of 4 out of 5 states in the region.
A joint force of armed movements has its headquarters in El Fasher, where it says it is working to protect civilians and commercial convoys, but there are fears of involvement in the conflict after the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement announced that they were abandoning neutrality.
The Rapid Support Forces said that they responded to an attack by the army in which they captured a number of soldiers and officers, stressing that their members are committed to implementing civil initiatives related to the need to preserve the lives of civilians and spare the city of El Fasher from war and destruction.
The people of Darfur are suffering from multiple crises as a result of the security turmoil in the region, before they worsened in light of the conflict that broke out between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, as millions of citizens find it extremely difficult to provide for their urgent life needs.