South Hospital in EL Fasher. (Photo/MSF).

Sudan’s Ministry of Health and a medical aid group have shut down South Hospital in El Fasher, after Rapid Support Force (RSF) soldiers stormed the facility on Saturday, opening fire and looting equipment including an ambulance.

Doctors Without Borders also known as MSF, which runs South Hospital, said the facility was the main referral hospital for treating war-wounded in Al Fasher, and the only one equipped to manage mass casualties.

“On Saturday, MSF and the Ministry of Health suspended all activities in South Hospital, Al Fasher, North Darfur, after RSF soldiers stormed the facility, opened fire, and looted it, including stealing an MSF ambulance,” the aid group said on X.

MSF said at the time of the incursion, there were only 10 patients and a reduced medical team as patients and medical services had been transferred to other facilities due to intensified fighting.

In a series of posts on X, it said most patients and the remaining medical team were able to flee the RSF shooting. It, however, added that “due to the chaos, our team was unable to verify if there were any killed or wounded by the shooting.”

“It is outrageous that the RSF opened fire inside the hospital. This is not an isolated incident – staff and patients have endured attacks on the facility for weeks from all sides, but opening fire inside a hospital crosses a line” said Michel Lacharite, Head of MSF Emergencies.

According to MSF, the wounded are being transferred to other facilities like the Pediatric hospital and the Saudi hospital, which were not prepared to cope with such an influx.

The medical organization said its team will keep helping transfer services from South Hospital to other facilities, and we will continue responding to nutritional crisis in Zamzam camp, south of Al Fasher.

Sudan’s powerful military commanders, junta leader General Abdal Fattah Al Burhan and RSF’s General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, plunged the country into a brutal conflict in April 2023 following a longstanding rivalry.

Fighting continues daily in several parts of Sudan, with both sides accused of war crimes including the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and blocking humanitarian aid.

At least 40 people were killed during artillery fire in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on June 6, allegedly by the Rapid Support Force (RSF) battling army, according to activists.

The incident occurred days after the paramilitary group was accused of killing more than 100 people during two waves of shelling on the village of Wad al-Noura in Gezira State.

The deadly Wad al-Noura assault drew widespread condemnation, including from UNICEF’s Executive Director, Catherine Russell, who said at least 35 children were reported killed and more than 20 others injured.

The United States condemned the “horrific attacks…. on unarmed civilians in Wad al-Noura which included the murder of over 100 people,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

In the besieged El Fasher city in the Darfur region, MSF recently described the situation as catastrophic due to intense fighting between the Sudanese army and RSF.

The aid organization said El Fasher has been under constant shelling since the war started in May, and everywhere is being bombarded.

On May 26, MSF said at least 134 people were killed including its staff member in fighting between the Sudanese army and RSF, adding that it treated 979 casualties at the city’s main hospital since the fighting began.