KHARTOUM, Sudan 

Local activists in Sudan on Friday accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of killing at least 50 civilians and injuring 200 others during attacks on villages in Al-Jazirah state, central Sudan.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry earlier accused the RSF of carrying out "retaliatory attacks" in Al-Jazirah state, located south of the capital, Khartoum. The attacks followed the recent defection of senior RSF commanders in the region.

A resistance committee in the town of Al-Hasaheisa reported that the village of Al-Suraih has been under attack by RSF forces since Friday morning, resulting in the deaths of 50 residents. It added that another nearby village, Azrak, remains under siege and facing ongoing attacks by RSF forces.

The RSF has not yet commented on the allegations.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Friday that 853 households were displaced from Tamboul city and surrounding villages in Al-Jazirah state between Oct. 20 and 24, 2024, due to escalating clashes between the Sudanese army and RSF.

The developments come just days after Abu Aqla Muhammad Ahmed Kikil, the RSF commander in Al-Jazirah, announced his defection to the Sudanese army, taking his forces with him. Areas in eastern Al-Jazirah, Kikil's home region, have become the base for his forces, which now fight alongside the army.

In December 2023, Kikil’s RSF forces seized control of several cities in Al-Jazirah, including the state capital, Wad Medani, located just south of Khartoum.

Since mid-April 2023, Sudan’s army and the RSF have been locked in a deadly conflict, which has resulted in over 20,000 deaths and displaced more than 10 million people, according to the UN. Calls from the international community and the UN for an end to the violence have intensified as the conflict threatens to push millions into famine due to food shortages in 13 of Sudan’s 18 states.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara