Sudan paramilitary shelling kills six in key city

El-Obeid, the state capital of North Kordofan, has been under relentless bombardment for eight consecutive days by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been locked in a devastating conflict with the army since April 2023.

A doctor at the city's main hospital, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said shelling also wounded eight civilians on Thursday evening and early Friday morning.

On Sunday, nine civilians were killed and 21 others were wounded.

For more than a week, residents have endured heavy bombardment from the RSF, which has been trying to reclaim ground lost to the army with attacks from the north and east.

Last month, Sudan's military managed to end a nearly two-year RSF siege on El-Obeid, a key crossroads linking Khartoum to Darfur in the west.

The war has torn Sudan apart, with the RSF tightening its grip on Darfur and parts of the south, while the army controls the north and east.

In recent weeks, the army has clawed back large swathes of Khartoum and central Sudan.

What began as a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo turned into the world's largest displacement and huger crisis.

The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, uprooted more than 12 million and pushed the country to the brink of famine.