// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Hospitals deliberately targeted by Sudan's RSF fighters, BBC investigation finds
Medics at el-Fasher's Saudi Hospital performed a Caesarean by phone light on the day it was bombed
A BBC investigation has found evidence that Sudanese paramilitary fighters systematically destroyed el-Fasher's healthcare system during their long siege and subsequent takeover of the city in Darfur a year ago.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the findings "deeply disturbing", saying multiple attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, were serious violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.
The paramilitary group's health minister described the allegations as propaganda and a deliberate attempt by the national army and its allies to smear the RSF's reputation.
Using sources who were on the ground in el-Fasher, the BBC has found details of at least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and healthcare sites from May 2024 to October 2025 - some hit multiple times.
Under international law it is illegal to attack health facilities or their staff during conflict.
The investigation also reveals the toll on medical workers in the western city. In the period from April 2023 to October 2025, the BBC's data shows 120 were injured, 55 killed and 10 forcibly "disappeared" or abducted.
"The RSF [were] trying to evacuate the hospitals, to put them out of service because the health system is the cornerstone of any city or any state," says Dr Muhamed Suliman, a surgeon who was based in el-Fasher during the siege and spoke to the BBC.
"The RSF started hitting these areas so citizens have no longer any way to stay there. It was intense. It was deliberate. It was planned."
The investigation comes a year after the fall of el-Fasher, one of the most brutal chapters of the civil war which erupted in April 2023 between the RSF and Sudan's military.