Sudan Army Airstrike on Darfur Market Kills Hundreds, Says Monitor

KHARTOUM, 25th March 2025 (BSS/AFP) – A Sudanese war monitor has accused the Sudanese army of killing hundreds of people in an airstrike on a market in the country’s western Darfur region.

The Emergency Lawyers, a group of volunteer legal professionals documenting atrocities on both sides of Sudan’s nearly two-year-long war, reported that army warplanes carried out “an indiscriminate airstrike on Tora market in North Darfur, killing hundreds of civilians and seriously wounding dozens.” The group did not specify when the strike occurred.

AFP has been unable to independently verify the death toll due to a telecommunications blackout in Darfur.

The Sudanese army, engaged in ongoing conflict with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The RSF, which controls nearly all of Darfur – a region the United States has accused of being the site of genocide – labelled the airstrike a “massacre,” claiming it took place on Monday.

The war in Sudan has led to tens of thousands of deaths, displaced more than 12 million people, and triggered the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis. Darfur, an extensive region roughly the size of France, has borne the brunt of the violence, which has included reports of barrel bombs targeting civilian areas, attacks on displacement camps already suffering from famine, and widespread ethnic violence.

While the RSF has deployed advanced drones in the region, the Sudanese army retains the upper hand in air operations with its warplanes, regularly launching strikes on RSF positions across Darfur.

This latest incident highlights the continuing brutality of the conflict in Sudan, where the civilian population has borne the most severe consequences of the ongoing war. The international community continues to call for an end to the violence and greater humanitarian assistance to mitigate the suffering in the region.