Massacre in el-Fasher: A Hospital Worker’s Gripping Testimony

Mon Dec 01 2025 00:30:20 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Abdu-Rabbu Ahmed, a laboratory technician who escaped the chaos in el-Fasher, recounts his harrowing experiences before a reported massacre at a local hospital, losing loved ones in the process.

In the Sudanese city of el-Fasher, Abdu-Rabbu Ahmed, a hospital worker, describes a horrific escape before paramilitary troops allegedly carried out mass killings at the Saudi Maternity Hospital. He recounts the terror that gripped the city amid bombardments, the loss of colleagues and family, and the desperate conditions faced by survivors in displaced persons camps. The situation has drawn international condemnation, with the World Health Organization describing the actions as shocking and horrific.

A man who escaped the last functioning hospital in the Sudanese city of el-Fasher before a reported massacre by paramilitary troops says he has lost all hope and happiness.

I have lost my colleagues, Abdu-Rabbu Ahmed, a laboratory technician at the Saudi Maternity Hospital, has told the BBC.

I have lost the people whose faces I used to see smiling... It feels as if you lost a big part of your body or your soul.

He has been speaking to us from a displaced persons camp in Tawila some 70km (43 miles) to the west of el-Fasher, the regional hub which was taken over by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the last week of October after an 18-month siege.

The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese army since April 2023, when a power struggle between their leaders erupted into a civil war.

The alleged killings of at least 460 patients and their companions at the Saudi Hospital were one of the most shocking among widespread accounts of atrocities - some of them filmed by RSF fighters and posted to social media.

In a statement of condemnation, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was appalled and deeply shocked by the reported shootings, and by the abductions of six health workers - four doctors, a nurse and a pharmacist.

The RSF has dismissed the accusations as disinformation, declaring that all of el-Fasher's hospitals had been abandoned. It disputed the claims by filming a video inside the hospital grounds showing female volunteers tending to patients.

Medical staff used to share what little food was available as the RSF blockade tightened, he said, sometimes working without breakfast or lunch.

Most of them fled when the paramilitary fighters launched their final assault. The shelling started around six in the morning, Mr. Ahmed said. All civilians and soldiers headed out towards the southern side. There was a state of terror... I saw many people die on the spot, there was no one who could save them.

Mr. Ahmed also lost much of his family: a sister and two brothers were killed that day, and his parents are missing.

I am very worried about the fate of the people inside el-Fasher, he added. They may be killed. And they may be used as human shields against the [Sudanese air force] airstrikes.

Back in Tawila, Mohamed Abdu-Teia, who had been a patient at the Saudi Hospital when the RSF closed in, can do little else but lay on the ground with his leg in a tattered cast.

Accounts of the alleged hospital massacre were reported by two Sudanese doctors' groups, citing sources on the ground, and an el-Fasher activist network. Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab said satellite imagery corroborated the reports, apparently showing blood on the ground and white grouped objects that looked like bodies in the hospital compound.

The RSF has issued videos to counter these allegations, declaring that the Children's Hospital in el-Fasher is ready to receive patients. However, many survivors recount horrific stories of brutality and turmoil during the conflict.