Sudan June Crackdown Killed 241 People: Rights Group

A Sudanese protester chants slogans in the capital Khartoum's Green Square on July 18, 2019, during a rally to honor comrades killed in the months-long protest movement that has rocked the country | AFP
A Sudanese protester chants slogans in the capital Khartoum's Green Square on July 18, 2019, during a rally to honor comrades killed in the months-long protest movement that has rocked the country | AFP
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Sudan June Crackdown Killed 241 People: Rights Group

A Sudanese protester chants slogans in the capital Khartoum's Green Square on July 18, 2019, during a rally to honor comrades killed in the months-long protest movement that has rocked the country | AFP
A Sudanese protester chants slogans in the capital Khartoum's Green Square on July 18, 2019, during a rally to honor comrades killed in the months-long protest movement that has rocked the country | AFP

Sudanese security forces deliberately killed 241 people in a crackdown on a pro-democracy protesters in June, an international rights group said Thursday.

It was the deadliest episode of a months-long protest movement that kicked off in late 2018 and led to the ouster of veteran president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 and to civilian rule later that year.

Thousands of Sudanese protesters had camped outside the army headquarters in Khartoum demanding Bashir's ouster and kept up their sit-in even after his departure to protest against military rule.

On June 3, armed men in military fatigues moved in on the protest camp and dispersed thousands of demonstrators.

In the ensuing days-long crackdown, scores were killed and wounded.

Doctors linked to the protest movement have said at least 128 people were killed in the violence. Authorities gave a lower death toll of 87 and denied ordering the sit-in dispersal.

But in a scathing report titled "Chaos and Fire", the US-based NGO Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said the crackdown was a "massacre" that claimed 241 lives.

"Sudanese security forces launched a series of planned, violent attacks against pro-democracy protesters that killed up to 241 people and injured hundreds more," the report released Thursday said.

The group said its findings were based on multiple witness testimonies, consultations with health workers and analysis of thousands of online footage and images of the dispersal.

"Sudanese security forces were responsible for perpetrating unconscionable acts of violence against pro-democracy demonstrators," said the report.

Those acts included "extrajudicial killings and torture, excessive use of force, sexual and gender-based violence, and the forced disappearance of detained protesters," it added.

Phelim Kine, PHR's research and investigation director, called the dispersal "an egregious violation of human rights".

PHR called on UN member states to sanction Sudanese officials responsible for the violence.

In August, Sudan's military leaders and others from the protest movement leaders formed a civilian-majority body to rule the country for a transitional period of three years.

The new authorities set up in October an independent commission to investigate the events of June 3. The team has yet to release its findings.



Gaza Rescuers Say 72 Killed by Israeli Fire

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 19, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 19, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Gaza Rescuers Say 72 Killed by Israeli Fire

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 19, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 19, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli fire killed at least 72 people in the Palestinian territory on Thursday, including 21 who had gathered to receive aid in central and southern Gaza.

Updating an earlier figure, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the death toll had risen to 72, "due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip since dawn today -- 21 of them were waiting for aid.”

The Israeli army told AFP that troops had fired "warning shots" at "suspects" approaching them in the Netzarim area where the civil defense agency said 15 people were killed waiting for aid, but that it was "not aware of any injured individuals.”