Volunteer groups on Sunday reported that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had shelled a hospital in the southwestern Sudanese city of El Fasher and abducted eight civilians from a nearby displacement camp.

In a statement, the Sudan Doctors Network said that RSF artillery fire had struck El Fasher's Southern Hospital on Saturday morning, wounding a medical worker and six patients, including a child and a pregnant woman.

The Network condemned the attack, which was the second on the hospital in two weeks, and accused the RSF of attempting to close down medical facilities in the city amid severe shortages of supplies, with thousands relying on primary healthcare.

Separately, the Abu Shouk Camp Emergency Room said that RSF fighters had stormed the displacement camp north of El Fasher on Saturday, taking eight unarmed civilians, including six women, a 40-day-old infant, and a three-year-old girl, to an unknown location. The group added that more than 20 camp residents remain missing and that this figure is likely to be higher. The RSF has not commented on the reported incidents.

Clashes have raged in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, since May 10 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and allied groups on the one hand, and the RSF on the other.

The wider conflict between the SAF and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands of people and caused the displacement of millions inside Sudan and across its borders.

The UN describes this as one of the worst humanitarian crises of the century.