CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s paramilitary forces killed hundreds of people at a hospital, including patients, after they seized the provincial capital of North Darfur over the weekend, according to the U.N., displaced residents and aid workers, who described harrowing details of the atrocities.

As part of their assault on el-Fasher, RSF fighters also went from house to house, beating and shooting at people, including women and children, witnesses told The Associated Press. Many died of gunshot wounds in the streets, some while trying to flee to safety, witnesses said.

Two years of fighting for control of Sudan has killed over 40,000 people — a figure rights groups consider a significant undercount — and has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with over 14 million displaced. The capture of el-Fasher by the powerful Arab-led force raises fears that Africa’s third-largest nation may split again, nearly 15 years after oil-rich South Sudan gained independence following years of civil war.

Sudanese residents and aid workers revealed harrowing details of atrocities by the RSF after it seized the army’s last stronghold in Darfur following more than 500 days of siege.

Fighters from the RSF “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards,” according to the Sudan Doctors Network, a medical group tracking the war.

“The Janjaweed showed no mercy for anyone,” said Umm Amena, a mother of four children who fled the city on Monday after two days, using a Sudanese term for the RSF.

RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who is sanctioned by the U.S., acknowledged what he called “abuses” by his forces. In his first comments since the fall of el-Fasher, posted Wednesday on the Telegram messaging app, he said an investigation was opened. He did not elaborate.

Source: AP