Sudanese activists say at least 45 dead in attack on Darfur city by paramilitary group

CAIRO — A Sudanese pro-democracy activist group said Saturday that at least 45 people have been killed after members of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group entered a city in the western region of Darfur.

The Resistance Committees, a network of youth groups tracking Sudan’s war, said the RSF carried out attacks in the city of al-Maliha over the past two days.

The dead included at least a dozen women, according to a partial casualty list published by the activist group.

The paramilitary group claimed Thursday that it seized al-Maliha, a strategic desert city in North Darfur near the borders with Chad and Libya.

Sudan’s military has acknowledged fighting around al-Maliha, but has not said it lost the city.

Al-Maliha is around 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the city of el-Fasher, which remains held by the Sudanese military despite near-daily strikes by besieging RSF.