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CAIRO (AP) — Fighters from the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces rioted in east-central Sudan in a days-long attack that killed more than 120 people in one town, a group of activists said doctors and the United Nations.

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It is the group’s latest attack on the Sudanese army after suffering a series of setbacks, losing ground to the army in the region. The war, which has lasted more than a year and a half, has ravaged the African country, displacing millions of its population and pushing it to the brink of outright famine.

RSF fighters went on a rampage through villages and towns in eastern and northern Gezira province between October 20 and 25, shooting civilians and sexually assaulting women and girls, officials said on Saturday. United Nations in a statement, adding that they looted private and public properties, including open markets.

“These are atrocious crimes,” Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said in a statement on Saturday. “Women, children and the most vulnerable people are bearing the brunt of a conflict that has already caused far too many deaths. »

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She said the attacks resembled the horrors committed during the Darfur genocide in the early 2000s, including rape, sexual violence and massacres.

The Sudanese Doctors Union said in a statement that at least 124 people had been killed and 200 others injured in the town of Sariha, adding that the group had arrested at least 150 others. He called on the UN Security Council to pressure the RSF to open “safety corridors” to allow humanitarian groups to reach populations in affected villages.

“There is no way to help the injured or evacuate them for treatment,” the statement said.

Images circulating on the internet, some shared by RSF fighters themselves, showed members of the paramilitary group mistreating detained people. One video showed a man wearing a military uniform grabbing an elderly man by the chin and dragging him while other armed men chanted in the background.

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RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces, an alliance of pro-democracy parties and groups, also accused the RSF of storming villages and opening fire on civilians, as well as rounding up and mistreating “a large number of inhabitants.

In a statement, the alliance held RSF “responsible for these massive violations” and called for the preparers to be held accountable.

The Gezira attack took place after the army had succeeded in retaking areas held by the RSF.

In September, the army launched a massive operation in and around the capital Khartoum, reconquering large areas from the RSF. Additionally, earlier this month they took control of Jebel Moya, a strategic mountainous area in Gezira province, as well as parts of Gezira and neighboring Sinnar province, driving out RSF forces.

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In October, a senior RSF commander, Abu Aqlah Keikel, de facto ruler of Gezira, defected and surrendered to the army.

This prompted RSF fighters to attack villages and towns in Gezira considered loyal to Keikel, according to local reports.

The war in Sudan began in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the army and the RSF escalated into open fighting in Khartoum, before spreading across the country.

The war was marked by atrocities such as mass rapes and ethnically motivated killings. The UN and international rights groups say the acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in the western region of Darfur, which is facing a violent attack by the RSF.

The conflict has left more than 24,000 dead so far, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a group that has been monitoring the conflict since its beginning.

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