Fighting in Sudan broke out more than a year ago (© -)

At least 40 civilians were killed on Sunday in an attack blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s Gezira State, according to a local lobby organization.

“An RSF attack on Gouz Al-Naqa village of Abu Gouta area in Gezira State killed at least 40 civilians,” said the Abu Gouta Resistance Committee, a non-governmental group.

According to the statement published by China’s Xinhua News Agency, several corpses remained exposed in the village, as the RSF is preventing displaced villagers from returning to bury the dead.

The paramilitary group currently at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), took control of Gezira after seizing the capital Wad Madani in December 2023 after the army withdrew following fierce fighting.

The committee called on civil society organizations to put pressure on the RSF to allow residents to enter the village and bury the deceased.

The RSF has not yet made any comment about the attack.

In April 15, 2023, fighting erupted between the junta under General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and RSF of General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, leaving thousands dead, displacing millions and triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.