Sudan conflict escalates: Paramilitaries kill over 200 in attack near Khartoum

(AFP): Sudanese paramilitaries killed more than 200 people in a three-day assault south of Khartoum, a monitoring group said Tuesday, as the government said the real toll was more than double.

The foreign ministry, loyal to the army in its war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, said “433 people, including infant children” had been killed.

The RSF attack on the White Nile state villages of Al-Kadaris and Al-Khelwat — some 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of the capital — sent thousands fleeing their homes, eyewitnesses told AFP.

Since Saturday, RSF fighters have engaged in “executions, kidnappings, enforced disappearances and property looting” targeting unarmed civilians, according to the Emergency Lawyers group, which documents rights abuses.

The attack — which the lawyers called “genocide” — has left hundreds wounded or missing, the group said, with some residents shot at and drowned while trying to flee across the Nile River.