Sudan's Rapid Support Forces paramilitary claims it took control of a strategic western town

CAIRO — Sudan's notorious paramilitary group claimed a ''sweeping victory'' Friday saying it took control of the key town of Al Nahud in West Kordofan state in a fight that intensified a day earlier.

A victory there by the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, would mark a strategic loss for Sudan's military in its war with the paramilitary force as the territory is home to the headquarters of the 18th Infantry Brigade.

The Sudanese army didn't immediately comment on its social media channels on whether it lost Al Nahud to its rival.

Sudan's Culture and Information Minister Khalid Ali Aleisir said on his Facebook account on Friday the RSF committed crimes against defenseless citizens in the town, looting their properties and destroying public facilities.

The RSF said on its Telegram channel Friday that it destroyed vehicles belonging to the army and seized their weapons and ammunition during the battle for Al Nahud. The paramilitary group also claimed that it managed to secure the city's facilities and markets after defeating the army.

The war erupted on April 15, 2023, with pitched battles between the military and the RSF in the streets of the capital Khartoum that quickly spread to other parts of the country.

RSF attacks in Al Nahud have killed more than 300 unarmed civilians, the Preliminary Committee of Sudan Doctors' Trade Union said on Facebook on Friday. The Associated Press couldn't independently verify that figure.

The Resistance Committees of Al Nahud condemned the RSF attacks, which it said began Thursday morning.

''They invaded the city, stormed residential neighborhoods, terrorized unarmed civilians, and committed cold-blooded murders against innocent civilians whose only crime was to cling to their dignity and refuse to leave their homes to the machine of killing and terror,'' the Resistance Committees said Thursday on Facebook.

An army loss of Al Nahud would impact its operational capabilities in Northern Kordofan state, according to the Sudan War Monitor, an open source collaborative project that has been documenting the two-year-war. Al Nahud is a strategic town because it's located along a main road that the army could use to advance into the Darfur region, which the RSF mostly controls.

Al Nahud also shelters displaced people fleeing from Al-Obeid, Umm Kadada, Khartoum and El-Fasher — the provincial capital of North Darfur province, according to the Darfur Victims Support Organization.

Meanwhile, in North Darfur, the fighting has killed at least 542 people in the last three weeks, though the actual death toll is likely higher, according to U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk. This figure includes the recent RSF attacks on El Fasher and Abu Shouk displacement camp, which killed at least 40 civilians.

''The horror unfolding in Sudan knows no bounds,'' said Türk i n a statement on Thursday.

Türk also mentioned ''extremely disturbing'' reports of extrajudicial killings committed by RSF, with at least 30 men in civilian clothing executed by the paramilitary fighters in Al Salha in southern Omdurman.

''I have personally alerted both leaders of the RSF and SAF to the catastrophic human rights consequences of this war. These harrowing consequences are a daily, lived reality for millions of Sudanese. It is well past time for this conflict to stop,'' said Türk.

The war in Sudan has killed at least 20,000 people, but the real toll is probably far higher. Nearly 13 million people have fled their homes, 4 million of them streaming into neighboring countries.

Half the population of 50 million faces hunger. The World Food Program has confirmed famine in 10 locations and warns it could spread further, putting millions at risk of starvation.