Three churches have been bombed in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, during two separate attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The targeted churches included the Sudanese Episcopal Church, the African Inland Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
At least five people were killed in the bombings on June 9 and 11, and dozens more were injured, reported the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide this week.
Among the casualties was Fr. Luka Jomo, the parish priest of the Roman Catholic Church, who died on June 12 from injuries sustained in the attack.
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The city of El Fasher, currently the only major urban center in Darfur not under RSF control, has been under siege by the group since April 2024. The RSF targets churches as part of a campaign to establish control, using these buildings as military bases and to conduct ethnically motivated violence against non-Arab Christians.
Despite a United Nations Security Council resolution urging the RSF to lift the siege, no withdrawal has occurred.
In April, the RSF seized the Abu Souk and Zamzam camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), situated about 9 miles from El Fasher. The two camps, which together housed more than 700,000 people, have since been repurposed as RSF military bases.
The RSF, engaged in a civil war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023, has attacked multiple churches over the course of the conflict.
CSW has reported a pattern of widespread pressure on Christians to convert to Islam.
The SAF has also been responsible for attacks on religious sites to counter the RSF presence inside, even if that risks damaging houses of worship. In December 2024, an airstrike by the SAF hit a church in Khartoum, killing 11 people, including eight children.
CSW President Mervyn Thomas condemned the bombings in El Fasher and the ongoing siege. He stated that both the RSF and SAF were committing severe human rights violations in breach of international law and humanitarian standards.
Thomas pointed out that churches serve as shelters for displaced civilians during conflicts and called for an immediate ceasefire, urging the international community to act to protect civilians.
In January, the U.S. government officially designated the RSF as committing acts of genocide, noted the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.
“The R.S.F. and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys — even infants — on an ethnic basis,” ICC quoted then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken as saying. He also stated that women and girls had been deliberately targeted for rape and sexual violence by RSF fighters.
The ongoing civil war in Sudan, now entering its third year, has caused severe humanitarian consequences, especially for children, said ICC.
UNICEF reports that around 15 million Sudanese children are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 4 million of them suffering from acute malnutrition. The agency also estimates that roughly 17 million children — about 90% of the country’s school-age population — are out of school. Nearly one-third of these displaced children are under the age of 5.
UNICEF has also documented at least 5,000 children missing and more than 3,000 killed since the outbreak of war in 2023.
