Drone and artillery strike on El Fasher shelter kills dozens

A drone and artillery strike on a displacement shelter in the besieged city of El Fasher in North Darfur late Friday killed dozens of people and wounded others, local activists and medical groups said, ratcheting up concerns about civilian safety and humanitarian access in the long-running Sudan conflict. The shelter, identified as al Arqam Home and located on the grounds of Omdurman Islamic University, was struck during heavy fighting between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, witnesses said.

Casualty estimates vary. The Sudan Doctors Network said at least 53 people were killed, including 14 children and 15 women, and that 21 others were wounded, several seriously. Local activist groups, including the al Fasher Resistance Committee, described bodies trapped under rubble and accused the Rapid Support Forces of carrying out a massacre, giving higher counts of up to about 60 dead. Another activist group reported at least 30 fatalities. The Rapid Support Forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to field reports.

The attack on the shelter is the latest in a pattern of strikes that aid groups and U.N. officials say have...