‘Our job is only killing’

Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of executions.

The fighters laugh as they climb into the back of a pickup truck and speed past a row of nine corpses, heading toward the setting Sudanese sun.

“Look at these studies. Look at this genocide,” someone chants.

He smiles as he turns the camera on himself and his fellow warriors; Rapid Support Force (RSF) badges displayed: “They will all die this way.”

The men celebrate last month’s massacre in Al-Fasher, Sudan, which humanitarian officials fear killed more than 2,000 people. On Monday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said it was investigating whether the paramilitary group had committed “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

Al-Fasher was a major target for the paramilitary RSF. This was the last stronghold held by the Sudanese army in Darfur, where the RSF has waged a devastating war ever since. The ruling coalition collapses in 2023.

More than 150,000 people are estimated to have died in the conflict over the past two years, and both sides have been accused of a range of war crimes; many of these were repeated by the RSF after Al-Fasher’s ouster.

The RSF, which has been under siege of the city for almost two years, has taken action since August to consolidate its position and blockade the remaining civilian population.

Satellite images show troops began building a large embankment (a high sand barrier) around al-Fasher, blocking access roads and blocking aid. By early October the ring completely surrounded the city, with a smaller barricade surrounding the neighboring village.

78 people lost their lives as the siege intensified RSF attack on the mosque on September 19The UN announced that 53 more people were killed in drone and artillery attacks on a camp for displaced people in October.

Videos shared with BBC Verify also suggested that RSF was trying to impose a blockade of food and essential supplies. Footage from October shows a man hanging upside down from a tree with metal chains, with his hands and feet tied behind his back. The man who shot the video accused him of trying to smuggle supplies into the besieged city.

“I swear to God you’re going to pay for this, you dog,” he shouted, before demanding the prisoner beg for his life.

Meanwhile, the RSF advanced towards the city with soldiers engaged in fierce street-by-street fighting.

By sunrise on 26 October, the RSF captured the last positions of the army and captured the main base in the city, the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division, as the army retreated.

Soldiers were seen laughing as they toured the abandoned headquarters with a grenade launcher. Later the same day, RSF commander Abdul Rahim Dagalo, brother of RSF chief Mohammad ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, was seen inspecting the base.

RSF – which Arose from the Janjaweed militia The organization, which killed hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur between 2003 and 2005, has long been accused of committing atrocities against non-Arab groups across Sudan. Footage posted online shows paramilitary fighters planning to initiate violence against the civilian population in Al-Fasher.

Before paramilitary forces captured Al-Fasher, very little information has emerged He’s been away from the city for months. But within hours of the army’s collapse, images of the atrocities committed by the RSF began to appear on the Internet, breaking the silence that had fallen over the city.

One of the most striking videos, revealed and analyzed by BBC Verify, showed the aftermath of the massacre at a university building on the city’s west side, where dozens of bodies were seen strewn across the floor.

An old man wearing a white tunic was sitting alone among the corpses. He turned and saw a fighter with a rifle walking down the stairs towards him. The gunman raised his gun and fired a single shot at the man who fell motionless to the ground. Other soldiers, unimpressed by the action, immediately noticed another man’s leg twitching among the corpses.

One warrior asked, “Why is this one still alive?” he shouted. “Shoot him.”

Satellite images taken on October 26 confirm that executions were also carried out on the streets of al-Fasher, according to a report published by the Yale Laboratory for Humane Research.

Analysts emphasized that the large “clusters” visible in the images were “consistent with the size range of the adult human body and were not present in previous images.” The report also noted “discoloration”, which was said to be traces of human blood.

An eyewitness who spoke to the BBC said he witnessed “many of our relatives being massacred, gathered in one place and all killed.”

Another witness recalled seeing a woman murdered after RSF “shot her in the chest” before throwing her body aside after “taking all her belongings”.

While the RSF’s main force attacked Al-Fasher, a separate group of fighters remained on the periphery of the city, where they brutally executed a number of unarmed captives.

Most of this violence occurred in an area approximately 8 km (5 mi) from Al-Fasher. Verified videos show dozens of bodies in civilian clothes, some appearing to be women, lying in a ditch along the perimeter of the sandbar built by the RSF.

Other clips show scenes of destruction, with raging fires and burnt-out shells of trucks scattered across the landscape. Videos taken from the scene also show bodies scattered among vehicles.

One of the key figures in the violence was previously identified by BBC Verify. RSF commander passing by Abu Lulu online. While two videos showed him executing unarmed captives, an eyewitness told the BBC that he “ordered his men to kill scores of innocent people, including children.”

In one of the clips, an RSF soldier was seen trying to intervene as Abu Lulu prepared to execute a wounded man, while the captive pleaded: “I know you. I called out to you a few days ago.”

Waving his arms, Abu Lulu rejected the man’s request and said: “I will never show mercy. Our job is only to kill.” After aiming his rifle almost haphazardly, the fighter unleashed a barrage of bullets that shattered the unarmed man.

Another video shows him killing a group of nine unarmed captives. Images that emerged days later revealed that the bodies were left where they fell, still lined up execution-style and lying on the dusty ground of Darfuri.

Many of those involved in the killings wore RSF badges, including the group who later celebrated the massacre as “genocide”.

In the days following the massacre, RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo admitted that his soldiers had committed “violations” and said the events would be investigated. A senior UN official said last week that RSF had reported arresting some suspects in its ranks.

Among these The person arrested was Abu Lulu After BBC Verify published a report documenting the murders. Carefully choreographed and edited footage posted on RSF’s official Telegram account shows him being taken to a cell in a prison on the outskirts of Al-Fasher.

Yale analysts also accused RSF of “cleaning up alleged mass atrocities.” A report published on November 4 stated that satellite images showed “objects consistent with bodies” being removed from a location north of RSF’s embankment and identified graves near the children’s hospital in Al-Fasher.

BBC Verify measured the white objects seen in the hospital courtyard on October 30 to be between 1.6 and 2 meters long. This is similar to the height of an adult human and is consistent with a body in a shroud commonly seen in Sudan.

Meanwhile, RSF and affiliated social media accounts began to reshape the narrative.

While posts showing its fighters distributing aid to civilians were shared by some users, the media office of the paramilitary organization also shared several clips showing prisoners of war being treated humanely.

Despite a social media campaign by RSF, their actions in al-Fasher sparked global outrage.

BBC Verify approached RSF with the opportunity to respond to the allegations made in this investigation. The group did not respond.

Additional reporting by Kevin Nguyen, Kumar Malhotra, Richard Irvine-Brown, Alex Murray, Barbara Metzler, Lamees Altalebi and Ahmed Nour. Graphics by Jess Carr and Mesut Ersöz.