A drone and artillery attack on a displacement camp in El-Fasher, western Sudan, killed at least 60 people on Saturday, local activists said.

The barrage was one of the deadliest assaults since the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began besieging the city 18 months ago.

What is happening in North Darfur's El-Fasher?

The El-Fasher resistance committee said the RSF struck the Dar al-Arqam displacement center on university grounds twice with drones and eight times with artillery shells.

"Children, women and the elderly were killed in cold blood, and many were completely burned,” it said. The committee had earlier reported 30 dead but later raised the toll as bodies were pulled from the rubble.

El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, is the last major city in the region still under army control. The RSF, which has been fighting the military since April 2023, is seeking to seize full control of Darfur. The United Nations says the war has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and left nearly 25 million Sudanese facing acute hunger.

Local activists say the city has become "an open-air morgue." Nearly 400,000 civilians remain trapped, facing starvation and disease as food supplies vanish. Animal feed that families have used to survive now costs hundreds of dollars a sack, and most soup kitchens have shut down.

Appeal to cease attacks on hospitals

Hospitals have also come under relentless attack. On Thursday, an artillery strike killed 13 people in a mosque sheltering displaced families, and between Tuesday and Wednesday, 20 more were killed when shells hit El-Fasher Hospital. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for immediate protection of medical facilities and humanitarian access.

UN rights chief Volker Türk said Friday he was "appalled" by the RSF's repeated attacks on civilians, hospitals and mosques, calling them clear violations of international law. "They continue instead to kill, injure, and displace civilians… This must end," he said.

The UN estimates that 80% of people in need of medical care in El-Fasher can no longer receive it. Last month, at least 75 civilians died in a single drone strike on a mosque. More than one million residents have fled since the start of the war — roughly 10% of Sudan’s total displaced population.

Civilians say they now spend most of their time in backyard bunkers to escape daily bombardments. If El-Fasher falls, analysts warn, the RSF would gain full control of the Darfur region and consolidate its parallel administration, leaving Sudan’s army confined to the country’s north, centre and east.

Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah