Our Purpose Involves Only Killing' - The Way Sudan's Brutal Paramilitary Group Conducted a Massacre

Militiamen smirk as they move on the bed of a pick-up truck, racing alongside a row of multiple dead bodies and moving in the direction of the setting Sudanese sun.

"See all this effort. See this genocide," one exclaims.

He grins as he points the video equipment on his person and his fellow combatants, their paramilitary insignia clearly shown: "These people will all be killed like this."

The men are exulting in a atrocity that humanitarian officials fear claimed the lives of over thousands of people in the Sudanese urban center of al-Fashir during October.

A Community Severed from the Outside

After maintaining the community under encirclement for nearly an extended period, from late summer the RSF moved to strengthen its control and blockade the remaining inhabitants.

Orbital photography show that forces began to erect a massive berm - a raised sand barrier - around the edges of the city, closing access routes and blocking relief supplies.

While the blockade worsened, multiple individuals were killed in an paramilitary attack on a place of worship on 19 September, while the international organization said dozens more were killed in drone and heavy weapon attacks on a displacement camp in fall.

Disturbing Footage Reveals Defenseless People Executed

At dawn on 26 October the paramilitary force defeated the last government positions and seized the central base in the urban area, the main facility of the Military Unit, as the army pulled back.

Among the most graphic videos to appear and analysed revealed the results of a atrocity at a campus structure on the western of the community, where numerous dead bodies were seen strewn throughout the floor.

A senior man dressed in a robe was seated alone amid the bodies. He looked to look as a combatant equipped with a firearm walked along the stairs towards the individual. Raising his rifle, the shooter discharged a one shot at the individual, who fell to the floor motionless.

"How come is this person still living," a fighter shouted. "Kill this one."

Orbital photography captured on late October appeared to confirm that shootings were also carried out on the roads of al-Fashir, according to a report published by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab.

One witness who provided testimony reported they had seen "numerous of our kin being massacred - they were gathered in one place and all killed."

Paramilitary Leaders Try to Conduct Damage Control

During the period that followed the massacre, RSF commander acknowledged that his troops had perpetrated "wrongdoings" and stated the occurrences would be examined.

Part of the detained was subsequent to a investigation detailing his killings. Deliberately orchestrated and edited footage published on the militia's official social media account show the individual being taken into a detention area at a prison on the edges of al-Fashir.

At the same time, the RSF and connected social media accounts started trying to reshape the narrative.

Posts depicting its fighters distributing aid to inhabitants were disseminated by some individuals, while the militia's communications team released several recordings purporting to show the proper handling of army prisoners of war.

In spite of the online campaign being deployed by the RSF, their conduct in al-Fashir have generated international anger.