They would ask a man to run,” one of the few eyewitnesses told NBC News. “Once you start running, they shoot you.”

CAIRO, EGYPT | Xinhua | The capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State, El Fasher, has fallen to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following the withdrawal of the national army — a major turning point in the country’s two-and-a-half-year civil war that has intensified fears of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe.

The war in Sudan began in April 2023, when allies Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo turned on each other.

The latest violence in Sudan is triggering calls in Congress for action — with Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch (R-Idaho) leading a call to designate the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary as a foreign terrorist organization.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan and the "urgent opening of humanitarian corridors" there to alleviate "unacceptable suffering" caused by civil war.

Sudan's civil war has entered a new and horrific phase as paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have gone on a killing rampage after taking over the key city of El Fasher in western Darfur. Hundreds of thousands have fled after witnessing mass executions and brutal violence.

Aid workers are concerned that only a few people fleeing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan's Darfur region have reached safety

The country’s civil war has triggered a wave of brutal reprisals targeting the region’s Black population.

Sudan's brutal two-year war has entered a new phase. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has seized control of the entire Darfur region, ousting the Sudanese army from its last stronghold.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo on Sunday appealed for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors in Sudan, saying he was following with "great sorrow" reports of terrible brutality in the city of Al-Fashir in Darfur.