Port Sudan, Sudan, Nov 3 (AFP/APP):At least 13 people were shot dead on Sunday in an attack blamed on Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Al-Jazira state south of Khartoum, a medical source told AFP.

“Thirteen people were killed as a result of the Rapid Support Forces opening fire on civilians in the town of Al-Hilaliya in eastern Al-Jazira state,” about 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of the state capital Wad Madani, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Sudan’s Al-Jazira state has become a key battleground following the defection of RSF commander Abu Aqla Kaykal.

Kaykal recently joined the Sudanese army, along with what the military described as “a large number” of his troops, in the first high-ranking defection from the RSF.

According to the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the RSF launched major attacks across eastern parts of Al-Jazira state between October 20 and 25.

The paramilitaries allegedly committed mass killings, sexual assaults, extensive looting of markets and homes and widespread farm burnings, Nkweta-Salami said.

The UN official described these “atrocious crimes” as mirroring those documented in Darfur last year, where the RSF was accused of human rights abuses such as “rape, targeted attacks, sexual violence and mass killings”.

The conflict in Sudan erupted in mid-April 2023 between the regular army led by the country’s de facto leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, killing tens of thousands and displacing more than 11 million.