A day earlier, a strike that hit another market in al-Koma in North Darfur killed 61 people, according to the local emergency response room. Those killed included 13 children, UN agency UNICEF said.

The army, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has accused the RSF of occupying civilian homes and launching attacks from civilian areas. The RSF denies using civilians as human shields.

The paramilitary force has been accused of raiding villages and neighbourhoods, arbitrary killings, and sexual violence in areas under its control.

On Thursday, a statement by the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, a former rebel group aligned with the army, said the RSF had raided and set fire to 17 villages in North Darfur, killing or injuring hundreds. It accused the force of ethnic cleansing akin to the violence the RSF is accused of committing in West Darfur last year.

Yale Humanitarian Lab, which monitors the war in the country, said the army had also carried out a significant campaign of bombardment in RSF-controlled areas of al-Fashir, a North Darfur city that the paramilitary has besieged for months.

The army’s advance in the capital, which began in late September, has also led to reported casualties. Radhouane Nouicer, Sudan expert for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed alarm at reports, some of which circulated on social media, of the summary execution of 70 young men by forces allied to the army in Bahri, part of the greater capital region.

Fighting is expected to intensify with the end of rains that had halted the RSF’s advance in the country’s south-east. The RSF’s leader called on troops to report to their units and said they were prepared to fight on for years.

Overall death tolls from the war are highly uncertain due to the collapse of health and government services, and lack of access for aid workers. Both sides have received material help from external supporters.

“The uptick in fighting and reported civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure are all happening while more weapons are finding their way to the warring parties,” said Mohamed Osman of Human Rights Watch.

On Thursday, the army published footage of what it said were weapons and ammunition sent by the UAE to the RSF and seized in Jebel Moya, south of Khartoum. The UAE has denied supplying the RSF with arms.

RFS commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo on Wednesday accused Egypt of launching airstrikes against his troops in the same area.

Reuters