Armed robberies claim five lives in Darfur

Three people were killed in attacks in North Darfur, and two more in South Darfur in separate incidents of banditry by armed groups on Sunday and Monday.

A woman was killed in an armed robbery near Shangil Tobaya on the Nyala-El Fasher road on Sunday afternoon.

Witness Munadil Adam told Radio Dabanga that an armed group riding four camels intercepted a passenger vehicle on its way from Nyala to El Fasher. The attackers fired shots at the vehicle, killing a woman, destroying the tyres of the vehicle, and robbed the passengers of all their belongings.

He said that one of the members of the group wanted to kill the driver of the vehicle for not complying with their orders to stop, but the leader of the group intervened and told him to be satisfied with taking all his belongings.

Since last week, the El Fasher-Nyala road witnessed a series of armed robberies and attacks, including on the convoy of the security advisor to the Governor of Darfur Region. Sources from the region attribute the growing violence to the government's failure to deploy joint forces in those areas to protect the people.

On Sunday evening, a woman named Aziza Ali and a hitherto unidentified man were killed, and others were injured, on the El Fasher-Korma road.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the vehicle carrying them was exposed to a hail of bullets fired from bandits on motorbikes south-east of Korma.

Two people were killed in two separate incidents in Nyala, South Darfur, on Monday.

Abdelrashid Ahmed (60), was killed in his home in the El Masanea neighbourhood in Nyala, in an armed robbery on Monday morning.

His neighbours told Radio Dabanga that they heard shooting at exactly 2:00 in the morning. Three gunmen tried to steal money from Ahmed’s house, but he resisted them, so they shot him and killed him instantly and fled.

The police cordoned off the site of the accident later that morning, in order to investigate the murder.

Hasan Mustafa (36), a driver working for the South Darfur Forest Department, was killed in his house in the southern part of Nyala, at about 4:00 on Monday morning.

People in the neighbourhood told Radio Dabanga that a group of armed men attacked the driver's house and tried to get the key to the vehicle belonging to the Forestry Department, but he resisted them before they shot him and killed him instantly.

Ministry of Agriculture workers mourned the dead man in a solemn procession on Monday.