Over 60 killed in attack on Sudan Hospital, says WHO

KABUL (Pajhwok): At least 64 people, including 13 children, have been killed in an attack on a hospital in Sudan’s Darfur region, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

In a social media post on Saturday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that multiple patients, along with two female nurses and one male doctor, were among those killed in the assault on Al Deain Teaching Hospital in Al Deain, the capital of East Darfur state, on Friday night.

He added that 89 people, including eight healthcare workers, were wounded.

The attack severely damaged the hospital’s paediatric, maternity and emergency departments, rendering the facility non-functional and cutting off essential medical services in the city.

“As a result of this tragedy, the total number of fatalities linked to attacks on health facilities during Sudan’s war has now surpassed 2,000,” Tedros said. He noted that over nearly three years of conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the WHO has confirmed 2,036 deaths in 213 attacks on healthcare facilities.

There was no immediate information on who was responsible for the attack.

The war between Sudan’s army and the RSF erupted in mid-April 2023, unleashing widespread violence and creating one of the world’s fastest-growing humanitarian crises. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, and more than 12 million have been displaced.

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