KHARTOUM, Sudan

At least 12 people were killed and 20 others injured Wednesday in artillery shelling that targeted a livestock market in El Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur State in western Sudan.

“Artillery shelling on the livestock market in El Fasher city resulted in 12 civilian martyrs and 20 with varying degrees of injuries,” the Coordination of Resistance Committees in El Fasher said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the resistance committees said El Fasher was subjected to a severe attack with heavy artillery by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF has not commented on the matter.

Since May 10, El Fasher has witnessed fierce clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF. The city is used by UN and international aid agencies as a humanitarian operation center for the Darfur region.

The conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between army Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo over disagreements about integrating the RSF into the military.

It has resulted in more than 16,000 deaths, displaced nearly 10 million people, and left over 25 million in need of humanitarian assistance, making it one of the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises, according to the UN.