Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces say they have captured the army headquarters in the city of El Fasher the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the Darfur region in the west of the country.

Paramilitary forces turned El Fasher’s last functioning hospital into a “human slaughterhouse,” massacring hundreds of people including patients as they stormed the city, aid workers and local officials say.

Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, in what the United Nations chief called a “terrible escalation” in the conflict.

Satellite images of El Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region show 'clusters' of objects 'consistent with the size of human bodies', according to analysts from Yale University

The leader of the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemedti), ruled out Sudan’s division after rebels imposed a siege on Al Fashir, the army’s last stronghold in the vast western region of Darfur,

Sudan plunged into a civil war in April 2023 after a vicious struggle for power broke out between its army and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It has led to a famine and claims of a genocide in the western Darfur region - with fears for the residents of city of el-Fasher after it was recently captured by the RSF.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have been forced out of El Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after a yearlong siege, allowing the rebels to gain control of the western Darfur region,

The RSF’s capture of El Fasher has potentially far-reaching consequences for Sudan and its two-year civil war. The conflict has already displaced more than 14mn people, according to the UN, provoked famine and claimed more than 150,000 lives.