The paramilitary seized el-Fasher, the army’s last major stronghold in Darfur, on 26 October after an almost two-year siege.

Humanitarian officials fear more than 2,000 people were killed in the city last month alone, in a conflict that has left an estimated 150,000 dead nationwide over two years.

Siege, Berms And Blockade

As the RSF tightened its grip, satellite imagery showed a sand berm built around el-Fasher and a second barrier around a nearby village, sealing access roads and trapping civilians.

During this siege phase, 78 people were killed in an RSF attack on a mosque on 19 September, and the UN reported 53 more dead in drone and artillery strikes on a displacement camp in October.

Footage also showed a man chained upside down from a tree and accused of smuggling supplies into the city, as his captor threatened him and demanded he beg for his life.

Executions Captured On Video

By dawn on 26 October, RSF fighters had overrun the 6th Infantry Division headquarters, laughing and filming themselves in the abandoned base before commander Abdul Rahim Dagalo toured the site.

Soon after, video from a university building on the city’s western side showed dozens of bodies on the floor and an elderly man in a white tunic shot at close range; when another victim’s leg twitched, a fighter shouted, “Why is this one still alive. Shoot him.”

Analysts at Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab said satellite images from the same day showed new “clusters” on streets consistent with adult bodies and dark discoloration they assessed as likely blood.

Killings At The Berm Trench

While the main RSF force moved through the city, another group operated about 8km (5 miles) away along the outer berm, where verified videos showed dozens of dead civilians, including apparent women, lying in a trench. Other clips depicted burned-out trucks, fires, and bodies scattered among vehicles near the sand barrier.

“Our job is only killing”

A key figure identified in multiple videos was an RSF commander known as Abu Lulu, filmed executing unarmed captives.

In one clip, he brushed aside a wounded man’s pleas—“I will never have mercy. Our job is only killing”—before firing repeated bursts into his body; in another, nine prisoners were shot and left lined up on the ground.

Fighters wearing RSF badges later drove past rows of corpses, boasting, “Look at all this work. Look at this genocide,” and vowing, “They will all die like this.”

RSF Tries To Contain Fallout

After the footage spread, RSF leader Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo admitted unspecified “violations” and vowed an investigation, while a UN official said suspects, including Abu Lulu, had been detained.

Yale researchers accused the RSF of “clean-up” operations, citing satellite images from 4 November showing possible body removals and new soil disturbances near el-Fasher’s children’s hospital, where white shrouded forms appeared.

RSF media shared images of aid distribution and claimed prisoners were treated humanely. The International Criminal Court said it was reviewing whether RSF actions in el-Fasher constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity; the group offered no comment.