El Koma / Port Sudan / Addis Ababa / Cairo — Dozens of people were killed and more than 200 others were wounded in air raids on the El Koma town market in North Darfur on Friday morning. The death toll reportedly rose to 65 people on Friday night.
Community activist Saleh Harirein on Friday reported that 59 people were killed and more than 200 others were wounded in airstrikes on the El Koma town market that morning. The bombing led to the burning of the entire market.
Yesterday, he told Radio Dabanga that the number of victims had risen to 65. "Three of the wounded who were taken to the Ed Daein Hospital [in East Darfur] died later, while three others were found dead inside a car this morning".
Among the victims are two relatives of Lt Gen Ibrahim Jaber, one of the deputy commanders-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and member of Sudan's Sovereignty Council.
"Other bodies found have not been identified, in particular of boys working at the market as shoe shiners or carrying goods for customers with their wheelbarrows".
Harirein on Friday made a video clip showing residents of El Koma going out to bury the victims of the airstrikes that morning.
An official of El Koma locality said in the clip that "the airstrikes on the El Koma town market confirm that they are targeting defenceless civilians" and commented that "It is impossible for a country's army to bomb people with its air force and claim that it is doing so to protect the country."
Another source told Radio Dabanga that the town has been exposed to more than 30 air raids since the outbreak of the war between the SAF and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April last year. He lamented that the bombardments on Friday caused a very large number of wounded, "at a time health facilities were forced to close because of the lack of medicines and first aid kits".
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El Koma town is hosting more than 45,000 displaced families who fled the violence in El Fasher, other places in Darfur, and Khartoum.
Agreement to protect civilians
In a statement yesterday, the Darfur Bar Association strongly condemned the airstrikes that almost simultaneously "targeted both the market of El Koma town and a funeral tent east of the market of Mellit town in North Darfur, which led to the death and injury of dozens of innocent civilians and destruction and devastation of the two markets".
The Darfur lawyers called on the international community "to quickly take necessary measures" to prevent markets being bombed and hold the army leadership responsible.
The Civil Democratic Forces (Tagadom) alliance of democratic groups, chaired by former PM Abdalla Hamdok, also commented on the violent incident on Friday.
In a press statement, Tagadom said that the airstrikes on the El Koma market coincided with the bombing of the centre of Mellit and areas in Sharg El Nil (East Nile) in Khartoum, all causing civilian deaths and injuries. The alliance reminded both parties that signed the the Jeddah Declaration to Protect Civilians one month after the outbreak of the war that they have agreed to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and between civilian objects and military targets at all times.
The National Umma Party also denounced the aerial bombardments, and stressed that "both belligerents must realise that the continuation of this war has become a real threat to the safety of the homeland, the unity of its territories, and the security of its citizens, and that it is time to stop it immediately".
