By Staff Reporter
Residents dig a mass grave for victims of an attack that left over 60 dead in the village of Masteri in west Darfur, Sudan Monday, July 27, 2020.
Sudanese officials announced on Sunday that numerous bodies have been discovered at the bottom of a well in Khartoum, just days after the military expelled a notorious paramilitary group from the area.
Police reported that 11 bodies, including those of women and children, were retrieved from the deep well located in the Fayhaa neighborhood on Saturday.
Col. Abdul-Rahanan Mohamed Hassan, who leads the civil defense team in Khartoum, stated that the search was initiated after residents alerted authorities about a dead body found in the well.
“We discovered various bodies inside this well, including males, females, adults, and children,” Hassan noted, adding that the search for more remains was ongoing.
Authorities believe the victims were killed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and subsequently disposed of in the well while the paramilitary group controlled the area.
The military regained control of the region earlier this month as part of its broader offensive in Khartoum and Omdurman.
There has been no immediate response from the RSF.
Afraa al-Hajj Omar, a resident of the nearby Hajj Youssef neighborhood, claimed that the RSF had killed many individuals in the area, leaving their bodies on the streets for days.
She mentioned that numerous bodies were discarded in the well. “They robbed us, beat us, and tortured us,” she recounted.
The conflict has resulted in at least 20,000 deaths, though the actual figure is likely much higher.
Over 14 million people have been displaced, with parts of the country facing famine.
The fighting has devastated Khartoum and other urban centers, marked by horrific acts such as mass rape and ethnically targeted killings, which have been classified as war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international human rights organizations.
The violence has escalated in recent months, with the military making consistent progress against the RSF in Khartoum and other areas.
