After an 18-month siege, the city of El-Fasher, Sudan, fell on Monday morning. It was the last major city in Darfur outside the control of General Hemedti's Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Since entering the city, the RSF had committed massacres against civilians in various neighborhoods, as shown in images analyzed by the France 24 Observers team.

Pickup trucks full of armed men speeding past fleeing civilians, militiamen parading through the streets, and trenches in the sand filling with lifeless bodies: dozens of images from the city of El-Fasher in Darfur have flooded Sudanese social media since Monday, October 27. These videos were filmed by the main protagonists – the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – who seized the city, driving out the Sudanese army. This capture represents a key step in the war for control of Sudan between the RSF and the Sudanese army.

The FSR emerged in the wake of the Janjaweed paramilitary group, known for perpetrating ethnic massacres in Darfur between 2003 and 2005. Upon their arrival in El-Facher, the FSR members filmed themselves triumphantly in the streets.

In this video published on October 27, 2025, members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) patrol the city of El Fasher, Sudan, on motorcycles and parade on camels (geolocation: 13.628769, 25.330779). X/ThomasVLinge

Abu Lulu, a militiaman who films his atrocities

But the FSR also filmed their abuses, as shown in images broadcast by a pro-them Telegram channel, marek55500 : in particular, FSR militiamen are seen parading in front of a mass grave in which dozens of corpses are piled up, in three different videos.

Screenshots from three videos published on October 27, 2025, by a Telegram account supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), showing a mass grave located near El-Fasher, Sudan. © Telegram / marek55500

In total, the France 24 Observers team counted 33 bodies in just one of the three videos. It is estimated that there are around 50 bodies in all three videos. Among these lifeless bodies, the France 24 Observers team identified a woman and three men dressed in camouflage fatigues.

In this screenshot from one of the videos released on October 27, 2025, Abu Lulu poses for the cameras in front of the mass grave. © Telegram / marek55500

In another video filmed at the same location, Abu Lulu executes a wounded man lying on the ground. Seconds before his death, the prisoner on the ground begs Abu Lulu for mercy: "Mercy! Mercy!" The officers present try to convince Abu Lulu to spare his life. He refuses and addresses the prisoner he is about to kill: "Even if General al-Burhan [head of the Sudanese army fighting the RSF] comes here, I won't let you go! You're not giving me any useful information, you're nobody, you don't exist!" Abu Lulu finally fires five shots to finish off the wounded man.

Screenshots from a video posted on Facebook on October 27, 2025: Abu Lulu (the man with the white scarf) speaks to a wounded prisoner, then fires five shots from an assault rifle to finish him off. © Facebook / h.lm.msj.n.227228

This is not the first time Abu Lulu has displayed his crimes on camera. On August 18, a video filmed in El-Facher already showed Abu Lulu executing a man in cold blood. Before killing him, Abu Lulu had questioned him about his ethnicity. As soon as the man replied that he was Maba [one of the non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur, regularly targeted by FSR abuses, editor's note], Abu Lulu fired seven shots in his direction with a pistol.

A few hours after the release of these images taken in El-Facher, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attempted to distance themselves from Abu Lulu, claiming he was not one of their members. However, in images posted on his TikTok account, Abu Lulu can be seen wearing a badge bearing the RSF logo.

In these various images posted on his TikTok account, Abu Lulu is frequently seen wearing a badge bearing the insignia of the Rapid Support Forces (the one visible in the top right image). © TikTok / user32729159961353

On Thursday, the Rapid Support Forces finally announced Abu Lulu's arrest on their Telegram channel : "Abu Lulu and several people involved in human rights violations in El-Facher arrested by the RSF." The text was accompanied by a video showing Abu Lulu handcuffed and locked up.

This screenshot from a video released by the RSFSudan on their official Telegram channel on October 30, 2025, shows Abu Lulu being held captive by members of the militia. © Telegram / RSFSudan

Massacres at the children's hospital, the medical school, and the maternity ward

In the city of El-Facher, civilian infrastructure was also the site of several massacres. A video shows the corridors of the city's medical school covered in corpses. It shows a militiaman descending a staircase and entering a hall strewn with bodies. A man dressed in white and unarmed is sitting in the middle of the room. With his back to the soldier, he turns and glances at him furtively, then turns away. The militiaman points his assault rifle and shoots him in the back.

Screenshots from a video – blurred by France 24 – showing the execution of an unarmed man in the corridors of the El-Fasher medical school in Sudan (geolocation: 13.62852, 25.32765). © X / BenDoBrown

In total, it is possible to count at least 11 corpses in this video.

Satellite images dated Monday, October 27, reviewed by the Observers editorial team, show the presence of several pickup trucks in the vicinity of the university.

This satellite image, dated October 27, 2025, shows a pickup truck near the El-Fasher Medical School in Sudan (geolocation: 13.62852, 25.32765). © Airbus DS 2025

The city's children's hospital was also targeted by the RSF. With communications cut and the streets occupied by the RSF, there are no ground-level images of the massacre. However, satellite images dated Monday, October 27, and collected by the Yale University Humanitarian Research Laboratory show dark patches resembling a pile of human bodies in front of the building's perimeter. The following day, the bodies appear to have been stacked to the side.

These images, published on October 26, 27, and 28, 2025, show the appearance and subsequent movement of dozens of bodies in front of the El-Fasher Children's Hospital in Sudan. © X / HRL_YaleSPH

For his part, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, denounced the death of "460 patients and accompanying persons" in a massacre that took place in the El-Facher maternity hospital.

Satellite images showing mass graves

Other satellite images published Monday, October 27, by Yale University show mass graves in the Daraja Oula neighborhood. According to researchers, the FSR massacred the population house by house.

Satellite image published on October 27, 2025, by the Yale University Humanitarian Research Laboratory. It shows traces of mass graves in several streets of the Daraja Oula neighborhood in El-Fasher, Sudan. © X / HRL_YaleSPH

According to Nathaniel Raymond , a member of the Humanitarian Research Laboratory at Yale University, the red patches visible on satellite images correspond to traces of mass graves:

"These red traces appear in areas where they were not present in previous days. Furthermore, these traces appear near vehicles capable of carrying heavy machine guns. The red coloration systematically appears next to shapes with a proportion similar to that of a human body."

We observed these traces in the Daraja Oula district [ a district located in the west of the city, editor's note ]. There were many civilians hiding in this area during the siege of the city. For now, we haven't been able to inspect all the city's districts. But satellite imagery already allows us to confirm that there were significant massacres.

Plumes of smoke appear in other satellite images the day before the city was definitively captured by the Rapid Support Forces. On October 26, several burned areas can be seen, including residences in the Daraja Oula district where traces of mass graves were discovered the following day.

This satellite image taken on October 26, 2025, shows smoke rising near a site where signs of massacres were reported in the Daraja Oula neighborhood of El-Fasher, Sudan (geolocation: 13.631629096548048, 25.325599230522496). © VandorTechnologies2025

Other satellite images dated Monday, October 27, and Wednesday, October 29, show the tracks of a convoy whose vehicles were burned out. It is impossible to independently determine whether these burned vehicles belonged to Sudanese army soldiers fleeing the FSR or to civilians. Furthermore, experts interviewed by the Observers team say it is difficult to pinpoint the precise start of the final withdrawal phase of the Sudanese army.

Right: Screenshot from a video released on October 27, 2025, showing a soldier in a uniform often worn by the FSR, posing in front of a convoy of burning vehicles. Left: Two satellite images, dated October 27 and 29, 2025, respectively, show the remains of the same convoy. © X / AfriMEOSINT

Civilians fleeing, pursued by fighters

Numerous images posted on social media also show civilians fleeing amidst FSR troops. On their Telegram channel, the FSR themselves shared drone footage showing dozens of civilians attempting to escape the El-Facher area.

This video, shared on October 26, 2025, by the Rapid Support Forces, was taken from a drone filming the flight of civilians in the El-Fasher area of Sudan. © Telegram / RSFSudan

Another video shows FSR pickup trucks chasing fleeing civilians. One of the militiamen in a pickup truck shouts, "Look at this large number [of fleeing civilians]. Catch the girls ahead." Another fighter shouts, "I swear to God, looting, looting!" However, it is impossible to independently verify the exact location of this video.

"The FSR were demanding astronomical sums of money to let civilians leave the city."

According to Sheldon Yett, a member of the UNICEF humanitarian mission in Sudan contacted by the Observers editorial team, the influx of refugees generated by the fall of the city will be very difficult to manage:

"There is a very large number of displaced people. It is a humanitarian disaster. In the last three days, we have had to take care of thousands of civilians who have left the city of El-Facher to go to neighboring villages or to the Tawila refugee camp.

The displaced people who reach us are completely exhausted and without resources. During the siege of the city, the Rapid Support Forces cut off all humanitarian aid, preventing our organization and others from accessing the city. There has been no food, medicine, or water in El-Fasher for months. The besieged civilians were eating animal feed.

Furthermore, testimonies claim that the FSR demands large sums of money to allow people to flee the city. Those who were able to escape were therefore those who could afford to pay. Consequently, the most vulnerable populations remained.

We can sometimes get in touch with residents of the city, but it's complicated because of the communications blackout, but also because of the confiscation of phones."

Since the city fell, the United Nations has repeatedly issued warnings. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor in El Fasher.