Satellite Images Suggest Evidence Of Mass Burials Ongoing In Sudan’s El-Fasher

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Satellite images analyzed Wednesday show mass burials taking place in Dubai El-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region After the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took over the city, concerns about the extent of violence descending on the city increased further.

The images of al-Fasher come as Sudan’s two-year war continues despite growing international outrage, with local media and the United Nations reporting that a drone strike targeting a funeral in another town called al-Obeid killed at least 40 people.

The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Laboratory analyzed images of al-Fasher taken by Vantor, a Colorado-based imaging firm formerly known as Maxar Technologies. These images appear to show mass graves being dug and then covered over at two sites in the city, one of which was a mosque just north of the Saudi hospital. It was reported that 460 people were killed Another was next to a former children’s hospital that RSF used as a prison, researchers said.

“It is not possible to specify the number of bodies that can be buried based on the dimensions of a potential mass grave; this is because those who dispose of bodies often layer the bodies on top of each other,” the report said.

The Associated Press separately accessed the Vantor images and saw details on the sites corresponding to the Yale lab’s report. The AP also accessed satellite photos taken Tuesday by Planet Labs PBC; these photographs showed differently colored soil in both areas; this indicates that the ground was often dug up and then reburied.

Earlier satellite images analyzed by the Yale lab and the AP showed white objects on the grounds of the Saudi hospital and near the children’s hospital immediately after RSF captured al-Fasher. The Yale laboratory determined that these were likely corpses, with blood stains visible from space.

RSF has denied killing anyone at the Saudi hospital, but testimonies from al-Fasher escapees, online videos and satellite images offer an apocalyptic vision of his attacks.

RSF has also published repeated videos in recent days of al-Fasher, who has faced growing international fear and condemnation for the attack, including some in hospital. The details of the images matched the known features in the hospital. But the footage never showed areas previously seen in footage shared on social media that purported to show RSF fighters moving among bodies on the ground and shooting a seated man.

The AP also analyzed Planet Labs’ Oct. 29 photos of the area along a northern levee outside al-Fasher. These images showed white objects similar to what the Yale lab identified as bodies, and an area was littered with burnt vehicles.

The area corresponds to images showing dozens of bodies and RSF fighters moving through the area, opening fire and talking to those injured in the attack. Some of those killed turned out to be armed warriors. Videos of the scene showed a fighter standing next to RSF forces in another video allegedly shooting unarmed prisoners. RSF said it arrested him on October 30.

In its report prepared on Wednesday, the Yale laboratory said that it was revealed that some of the bodies killed in the attack were taken away.

The overall scope of violence in Al-Fasher remains unclear due to poor communications in the area.

Among those killed was Dr., who worked for al-Fasher and was shot dead by RSF in what the Sudan Doctors Network described as a “heinous crime” targeting doctors and aid workers. Adam İbrahim İsmail was also there. The group said Ismail was detained and killed in the field during the RSF attack on the city.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres He called for “accountability mechanisms” for the capture of al-Fasher “because the crimes committed were so horrific.” This makes a full account of the capture of the city much more difficult, as the bodies are now likely to have been buried; especially since investigators would have to dig them up in territory held by the warring party that allegedly committed these atrocities.

The war between the RSF and the Sudanese army began in April 2023. More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to UN figures, but aid groups say the real death toll could be many times higher.

A drone strike in al-Obeid, the capital of Sudan’s North Kordofan state, killed at least 40 people and injured dozens more on Monday, both local media and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.

While the UN did not blame the attack, local media blamed RSF, which did not claim responsibility for the attack but mainly used drones in its attacks. Kordofan and neighboring Darfur regions have become the epicenter of the war in Sudan in recent months.

Conflicts have displaced and further inflamed more than 14 million people disease outbreaks. Two regions of Sudan continue to exist a famine that risks spreading.

Ross Smith, the World Food Programme’s director of emergency response, told reporters this week that the agency had noticed “very poor food consumption” in some parts of the country, where people were going days without eating.

“We are seeing very high levels of severe malnutrition and we have numerous reports of deaths,” he said. “This is definitely about conflict.”

Khalid reported from Cairo.