Footage from El-Fasher, Sudan, reveals the horrific scale of violence inflicted on civilians following the city’s capture by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 27. Eyewitnesses report targeted bombings of hospitals and mass executions. Among the victims was Ahmed’s brother.
“I got a message now from my Mom, through starlink. She is sheltering in [the] mountain,” shared Ahmed, 53, a Sudanese national living in Qatar, as he spoke to Doha News after finally reconnecting with what remains of his family in El-Fasher.
Thousands are feared dead in El-Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, following its seizure by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The city fell on Sunday after enduring an 18-month siege that cut off food and essential supplies to the estimated 260,000 civilians trapped inside.
Footage from El-Fasher reveals the horrific scale of violence inflicted on civilians. Witnesses describe summary executions, targeted ethnic killings, and attacks on hospitals. Patients and the wounded were also executed, medical staff were killed, and healthcare facilities were bombed.
Ahmed’s brother was among the victims.
“My brother was at home when they [RSF] came and asked if he was in the military. He said no. Then one of them said, ‘No one in this city is a civilian, kill them all.’”
Ahmed’s brother was executed by soldiers of the paramilitary RSF just days before they officially seized El-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur under government control. The city had been under siege for more than a year.
The war in Sudan, which began in April 2023 between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), has killed tens of thousands and displaced over 12 million, making it the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
El-Fasher has been under siege by the RSF since May 2024.
Just a month before the city fell, RSF bombs killed Ahmed’s sister.
“Even now, I am really not believing what is happening. All my family is from El-Fasher,” said Ahmed. “My brother was killed, my uncle’s brothers, three of them, yesterday… And my sister one month ago.”
She was killed by an RSF mortar shell during the siege and bombardment of the city.
Between October 26 and 28, 2025, more than 33,000 people fled El-Fasher as the RSF intensified its assault on the besieged city.
Among those who escaped were Ahmed’s mother and sister, now sheltering in the mountains, just outside the fallen city.
“My mom is hiding in [the] mountain with my older sister and her family,” Ahmed said quietly. “…the story…it’s hard to tell you.”
As our conversation ended, Ahmed’s voice trembled with exhaustion and pain. Speaking from his home in Qatar, where he sought refuge in September 2023, he is desperately trying to find a way to bring his mother and sister to safety.
He fears they could be caught by RSF soldiers, men who are already killing civilians indiscriminately.
El-Fasher falls to RSF: Evidence of mass killing
Satellite imagery analysed by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) shows evidence of mass killings in El-Fasher following its capture by the RSF on October 27.
The images show blood-stained streets and clusters of bodies across the city. RSF fighters are seen moving through El-Fasher’s Daraja Oula neighbourhood, where civilians had been sheltering days earlier.
“These activities include the blocking of side streets with vehicles and the presence of gun-mounted vehicles. Imagery analysis shows objects consistent with the size of human bodies on the ground near RSF vehicles,” reads the HRL report.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has also reported alarming accounts of summary executions, ethnically targeted killings, and other serious violations by RSF fighters.
According to the OHCHR, civilians trying to flee El-Fasher were summary executed, with indications that some killings were ethnically motivated.
“Multiple distressing videos received by UN Human Rights show dozens of unarmed men being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters who accuse them of being SAF fighters,” said the OHCHR release.
Verified videos analysed by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency showed RSF fighters executing and torturing civilians. RSF members have frequently recorded themselves committing atrocities in the past, according to Al Jazeera.
‘Watching atrocities live’: Sudan’s community in Qatar coping with the war at home
“This is very difficult to talk about because our feelings are all over the place,” Eman Saadeldin, a Sudanese woman who has lived in Qatar for nearly a decade, told Doha News.
Since the fall of El-Fasher, she said she spends her days scrolling through the horrific images emerging from Sudan.
“I have lots of friends who are originally from Darfur and still have family members there. It’s horrible to see what’s happening. The violence in all these places is worse than I have ever heard,” said Eman.
People who are supposed to be from the same homeland, she added, are slaughtering each other. Even if foreign fighters are involved, she said, the “big heads” are Sudanese.
“So, this makes it double or triple complicated in your brain, and in your heart, and in your blood, and it makes your blood boil, and it makes you extremely angry, but at the same time, it’s heartbroken and sad, and… you know, it makes everyday life very, very difficult.”
Eman describes a deep sense of survivor’s guilt. Living safely while her people face ethnic cleansing has left her feeling hollow. She goes through the motions — school, work, errands — but feels as if she has stopped truly living.
“You can’t enjoy anything without feeling guilty that you’re enjoying [it], and other people at the same time, at the same moment, are either being raped, or starved, or tortured,“ Eman added.
As images and footage from Sudan lay bare the brutal violence of the RSF, the Sudanese community in Qatar watches with heavy hearts, praying for their loved ones and hoping that families like Ahmed’s, torn apart by war, can survive and one day be reunited.
