On Sunday, the paramilitary RSF, which is fighting against the Sudanese military, is said to have directed heavy artillery fire at the city of al-Fashir. It struck residential areas, according to local sources.
Besides a reported 30 dead, dozens are said to be injured. On Monday, the shelling continued against both residential areas and marketplaces.
al-Fashir is the capital of North Darfur state and the last major city in greater Darfur not under RSF control. Its forces launched an offensive last week, also attacking two enormous refugee camps. More than 400 people were killed then, and hundreds of thousands were displaced further.
RSF took control of the Zamzam camp, which has hosted up to one million people. Many who fled then sought refuge in al-Fashir just north.
The UN's humanitarian agency has warned that aid workers have no opportunity to help the hundreds of thousands of people in the camps or scattered in the desert. Unicef describes al-Fashir and its surroundings as "hell on earth".
Tom Fletcher, vice secretary-general responsible for the UN's humanitarian efforts, said on Monday that he had spoken to both warring parties and received promises that they would allow aid through. Both parties have been accused of using starvation as a weapon against the civilian population over the past three years of war.
al-Fashir is an old oasis town on the edge of the desert, about 80 miles southwest of Sudan's capital Khartoum.
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 when a split occurred within the country's ruling military junta. The military had seized power a couple of years earlier, after the fall of long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir.
On one side stands General Abd al-Fattah al-Burhan, who commands the regular army. On the other side stands his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who leads the so-called RSF militia.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war. More than 14 million people have been displaced. The country has effectively been divided: the army controls areas in the north and east, and RSF with coordinated groups controls areas in the west and south. The capital Khartoum has also been divided and heavily contested, but the military regained control there in March 2025.
Both parties have repeatedly been accused of war crimes.
RSF originated from the notorious janjaweed militias, which under al-Bashir's rule were sent out to spread terror and quell the uprising in Darfur in western Sudan in the early 2000s.
