![Gandahar Market Areal view. [Satellite imagery]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Gandahar-Market-Areal-view.-Google-satelatie-imagry.png?resize=1024%2C572&ssl=1)
A resident, speaking to Sudans Post on condition of anonymity, said the victims included seven women and two children aged four and seven. The airstrike reportedly occurred around 8:00 AM local time.
“This attack took place this morning by Al-Burhan’s planes,” the source said, referring to the head of the military, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. “This resulted in many deaths and as I speak to you, the number of the people who died is 37. Seven of them are women and two others are children who are two and seven years old.”
The resident added, “Al Burhan wants us to leave this area, but we are unable to.”
The Gandahar market, located in western Omdurman, is one of the few remaining neighborhoods under control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Western Omdurman. The RSF, in a separate statement, claimed a much higher death toll of 360.
This latest airstrike is part of a disturbing escalation of violence in Sudan. On May 25, a SAF airstrike killed 28 in the same place, and in December 2023, another SAF airstrike on the Gandahar market claimed 75 lives.
Separately, an SAF airstrike on the Doha Ruins in North Darfur on June 8 reportedly killed seven women, four children, and wounded eight women, according to a local resistance committee member speaking to Sudans Post.
The intensified air attacks come just days after the RSF attacked Al Nour village in Al Jazira State, killing at least 140 people according to local reports. The RSF denied targeting civilians but confirmed taking control of the area from an armed group allied with the SAF.
The surging civilian death toll has sparked outrage and renewed calls for international intervention to stop the violence. Local humanitarian organizations are struggling to cope with the influx of wounded and displaced civilians.
The international community swiftly condemned the escalating violence against civilians in bother SAF and RSF controlled areas.
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs issued a statement condemning the attack on Al Nour village and calling on RSF to hold those responsible among their forces to accountable.
“We are deeply disturbed by the Rapid Support Forces’ use of artillery against civilians in Wad al-Noura,” the statement read. “General Hemedti should hold his commanders accountable and demand his forces cease using violence against civilians.”
British Ambassador to Sudan Hiles Lever echoed the call for accountability.
“We condemn this atrocity in the strongest terms,” Ambassador Lever said. “The RSF leadership must do more to control their forces and stop these killings. Our partnership with @Cen4infoRes is collecting & preserving evidence which can form the basis for future prosecutions.”
The European Union also weighed in, with High Representative and Vice President Joseph Borrell calling the attack a “senseless massacre.” Borrell added that the EU was investing in monitoring human rights violations in Sudan.
