On Monday, three civilians were killed following a shelling of a hospital in Khartoum, according to a medical source.
This distressing event unfolds amid ongoing battles between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, a conflict that has persisted for nearly six months.
The source reported, “Shells struck the Al-Naw Hospital in the Thawra district of Omdurman, resulting in three casualties.” Omdurman is located in the northern suburbs of Khartoum.
Omdurman has been a battleground for intense clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF since the outbreak of hostilities on April 15th of the past year.
Human rights organizations have accused both sides of targeting healthcare facilities.
In August, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) stated that Al-Naw Hospital “remains one of the last functioning healthcare facilities in Omdurman.”
The organization explained that it’s “the sole hospital with a surgical department in northern Omdurman, where all the injured in the city are transferred.”
The United Nations reports that 70% of Sudan’s hospitals have been rendered non-operational due to attacks or occupation, and their medical supplies and medications have been looted or depleted.
In the city of Jabal Awlia, located 50 kilometers south of the capital, doctors were forced to halt their work since Sunday evening due to heavy artillery shelling, according to one of the physicians.
Since the outbreak of the conflict, at least 9,000 people have lost their lives in Sudan, according to the Conflict-Induced Deaths (CIND) database, maintained by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP).
However, it’s believed that these estimates fall far short of the actual toll.
