A Sudanese paramilitary group attacked civilians in the war-scarred region of South Darfur, killing at least seven people and wounding 20 more, local activists and a rebel group said on Friday.
The assault came a week after government-linked armed groups stormed a protest camp in North Darfur and killed 13 people.
The latest attack was staged on Thursday by armed men who opened fire on people who were headed to their farms in the town of Gereida, about 107km south of South Darfur’s provincial capital, said Mohamed Abdel-Rahman al-Nayer, a spokesman for a rebel group known as the Sudan Liberation Movement.
Seven people were killed, said Adam Regal, a spokesman for a local organization that helps run displacement camps in Darfur.
Late on Friday, al-Nayer put the death toll at 15, saying that several more people had succumbed to their wounds.
“The militia that committed this crime is supported by the old regime,” al-Nayer said, referring to the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary unit drawn from the Janjaweed militias accused of mass killings and rapes in the 2000s.
The group continues to wield power in Khartoum. General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the unit’s commander, is deputy head of Sudan’s ruling council.
“We are calling on the government to play its role in protecting civilians, arresting criminals and disarming the militias,” al-Nayer said.
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