Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group (RSF), which besieged and then captured the city of el-Fasher, is holding residents for ransom and beating and killing those whose families cannot pay, according to Reuters.
The news agency—citing witnesses, aid workers and researchers—reported that large groups of civilians are being held in villages near the city, while others were captured and brought back into el-Fasher.
Their families are being asked for ransoms of thousands of U.S. dollars.
The RSF, which has been at war with Sudan’s military for two and a half years, laid siege to the city for 18 months before embarking on a spree of ethnically motivated killings.