Gunmen attack South Darfur village, kill RSF officer

A large group of gunmen approached Boronga village in Kass locality in South Darfur on Sunday morning. They collided with two battalions of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) tasked with protecting the village. During a fierce shooting an RSF officer was killed.

At least 11 villagers and four RSF soldiers sustained bullet wounds.

At a meeting in Nyala with the South Darfur Security Committee, headed by the state police chief, Kass activists and community leaders demanded better protection. The police chief replied that he does not have suitable vehicles to do so, one of the activists who attended the meeting told Radio Dabanga.

The activist said another meeting was held in Kass with the director and the police commander of the locality on the same issue. They stated that protecting the residents is “not one of the locality’s priorities”.

On Friday, the first day of the Eid El Adha (the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice), protesters burned down the offices of the police and the public prosecution in Kass town, broke into the armoury and torched that as well. Reportedly, during the events a woman was killed and others were injured.

Witnesses and informed sources from Kass told Radio Dabanga that this happened after the police used tear gas to break up a new sit-in by youth from the Boronga area in front of the locality buildings earlier that day.

The young people were protesting the release of six militants by the Kass police, including their leader, known as Dukhan (which means 'smoke' in Arabic), who was arrested in possession of a Dushka machine gun in Boronga on Thursday.

According to the sources, after Dukhan and his group were released, they immediately attacked Boronga again, killing one person and wounding three others on Friday morning.

On Saturday and Sunday, gunmen attacked several villages around Shataya, west of Kass. It is not yet known how many lives were lost and how many people became displaced, because heavy rainfall and floods led to the closure of many roads.

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