Sudan Aid Groups:54 Killed in Airstrike03/27 06:15

   

   CAIRO (AP) -- Aid groups in Sudan said on Tuesday at least 54 people were 
killed in a military airstrike on a local market in the country's western 
region.

   The strike on Monday on the village of Tora caused a huge fire, according to 
Adam Rejal, a spokesman for the General Coordination, a local group helping 
displaced people in Darfur.

   Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah, a spokesman for the Sudanese military, said 
civilians had not been targeted, adding the allegations were "incorrect" and 
"are raised whenever our forces exercise their constitutional and legal right 
to deal with hostile targets."

   The strike tore apart a large part of the weekly market in Tora, which is 
located 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of el-Fasher, the capital city of North 
Darfur province.

   Support Darfur Victims, a local group that provides support to victims of 
the Darfur conflict, shared graphic video footage appearing to show burnt 
structures and charred bodies on the ground.

   More than half of the dead were women, according to a list of casualties 
provided by Rejal. At least 23 people were wounded and seven were missing, the 
list showed.

   Rejal said that the strike was "a crime against humanity and a clear 
violation of all international and humanitarian laws and conventions."

   The city of el-Fasher is held by the Sudanese military despite near-daily 
strikes by the powerful rival paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, or 
RSF.

   U.N. humanitarian chief Volker Trk expressed shock at the reported killings 
at the Tora market, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

   Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said 
Monday's "horrific attack... is yet another stark reminder of the growing 
disregard for human life and international humanitarian law during this 
conflict."

   According to the U.N.'s humanitarian colleagues, Dujarric said, "there are 
disturbing reports that some of the injured are dying due to lack of access to 
timely medical care in El Fasher" where most health facilities have shut down 
because of the ongoing siege.

   Monday's strike was the latest deadly attack in a war that started in April 
2023 when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into 
open warfare across the country.

   The war wrecked the capital, and other urban cities across the country. It 
has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and 
left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine 
sweeps parts of the country. Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll.

   The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and 
ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against 
humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United 
Nations and international rights groups.

   The military has made steady field advances in recent months against the RSF 
in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. In March, It regained control of most 
of the strategic and government buildings in the capital, including the 
Republican Palace -- the seat of the pre-war government.