‘Our job is only killing’

Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of executions.

The fighters laugh as they get into a pickup truck, speed past a row of nine corpses and head toward the setting Sudanese sun.

Someone chants: “Look at all this work. Look at this genocide.”

“They will all die like this,” he smiles as he turns the camera to himself and his fellow fighters, their Rapid Support Forces insignia visible.

The men are celebrating the massacre that humanitarian officials fear killed more than 2,000 people in the Sudanese city of El Fasher last month. The International Criminal Court said on Monday it was investigating whether the paramilitary group had committed “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

El Fasher was a prime target for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. This was the last stronghold in Darfur controlled by the Sudanese army, with which the Rapid Support Forces have waged a devastating war ever since. Their ruling coalition collapsed in 2023.

It is estimated that more than 150,000 people have been killed by the fighting over the past two years, and both sides face accusations of a series of war crimes – many of which were repeated by the RSF after the fall of El Fasher.

After the city had been under siege for nearly two years, the RSF moved in from August to reinforce their position and besiege the remaining civilian population.

Satellite images show that forces have begun building a massive berm – a high sand barrier – around the perimeter of El Fasher, closing access roads and preventing aid. By early October, the ring completely surrounded the city, with a smaller barrier surrounding a nearby village.

As the siege intensified, 78 people were killed in clashes Rapid Support Forces attack on a mosque on September 19While the United Nations said that 53 others were killed in drone strikes and artillery shelling on a camp for displaced people in October.

Videos shared with BBC Verify also indicated that the RSF sought to impose a blockade on food and basic supplies. In October, video footage showed a man with his hands and feet tied behind his back and hanging upside down from a tree with metal chains. The man who filmed the video accused him of trying to smuggle supplies into the besieged city.

He shouted, “I swear to God, you will pay for this, you dog,” before demanding that the prisoner beg for his life.

Meanwhile, the Rapid Support Forces advanced into the city and the forces engaged in frenzied street-to-street clashes.

By sunrise on 26 October, the RSF had overrun the final army positions and captured the main base in the city, the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division, as the army withdrew.

The soldiers were filmed laughing as they toured the abandoned headquarters carrying a grenade launcher. Later that day, RSF Commander Abd al-Rahim Dagalo – brother of RSF Commander Mohamed “Hemedti” Dagalo – was seen inspecting the base.

Rapid Support Forces – which It emerged from the Janjaweed militia – which claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur between 2003 and 2005 – has long been accused of committing atrocities against non-Arab groups throughout Sudan. Footage posted online indicates that the paramilitary fighters intended to unleash violence against the civilian population in El Fasher.

Before paramilitary forces took control of El Fasher. Very little information has emerged From the city months ago. But within hours of the army’s collapse, footage of atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces began to appear online, shattering the silence that had fallen over the city.

One of the most graphic videos analyzed by BBC Verify showed the aftermath of a massacre at a university building on the western side of the city, where dozens of bodies were seen scattered on the ground.

An old man wearing a white jacket sat alone among the corpses. He turned to look at a fighter armed with a rifle walking down the stairs towards him. The gunman raised his weapon and fired one shot at the man, who collapsed motionless on the ground. His fellow soldiers, unfazed by the action, immediately noticed another man’s leg twitching in the tangle of bodies.

One of the fighters shouted: “Why is this person still alive?” “Shoot him.”

Satellite images taken on October 26 appear to confirm that executions were carried out in the streets of El Fasher, according to a report published by the Yale Humanitarian Research Laboratory.

Its analysts highlighted large “clumps” visible in the images, which they said were “consistent with the size range of adult human bodies and not present in previous images.” The report also noted “discoloration,” which the report said may be marks caused by human blood.

One eyewitness told the BBC that he witnessed “the massacre of many of our relatives – they were gathered in one place and all killed.”

Another witness recalled seeing a woman killed after the Rapid Support Forces “shot her in the chest” before throwing her body aside “after taking all her belongings.”

While the main force of the RSF was invading El Fasher, a separate group of fighters remained on the outskirts of the city, where they participated in brutal executions of a number of defenseless prisoners.

Most of this violence occurred in a location approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) from El Fasher. Verified videos show dozens of bodies in civilian clothes – some of which appear to be women – lying in a trench running along the perimeter of a berm constructed by the Rapid Support Forces.

Other clips show scenes of devastation, with fires blazing and burning truck shells scattered across the landscape. Video clips from the scene of the accident also show bodies scattered among the vehicles.

A key figure in the violence has previously been identified by BBC Verify as… Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, nicknamed Abu Lulu connected. He appeared in two video clips executing unarmed prisoners, while an eyewitness told the BBC that he “ordered his men to kill many innocent people, including children.”

One clip showed a Rapid Support soldier trying to mediate as Abu Lulu prepared to execute a wounded man, while the prisoner pleaded: “I know you. I called you a few days ago.”

Abu Lulu rejected the man’s pleas by waving his arms, saying: “I will never show mercy. Our mission is only to kill.” After aiming his gun almost casually, the fighter unleashed a storm of bullets that pierced the defenseless man.

Another video clip showed him killing a group of nine unarmed prisoners. Footage that emerged days later revealed that the bodies had been left where they fell, still lined up execution style and lying on the dusty ground of Darfur.

Many of those involved in the killings wore RSF badges, including a group that later celebrated the massacre as “genocide.”

In the days following the massacre, the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, admitted that his forces had committed “violations” and said that these incidents would be investigated. A senior UN official said last week that the Rapid Support Forces had notified that they had arrested some suspects in their ranks.

Among these The detainee is Abu Lulu After BBC Verify published a report documenting his killings. Carefully choreographed and edited footage posted on the official Telegram account of the Rapid Support Forces shows him being taken to a cell in a prison on the outskirts of El Fasher.

Yale analysts also accused the RSF of “conducting a purge of alleged mass atrocities.” A November 4 report noted that satellite images showed the removal of “items consistent with bodies from the RSF north of the berm site” and the identification of graves near the children’s hospital in El Fasher.

BBC Verify measured the white objects seen in the hospital grounds on October 30, and they ranged between 1.6 meters and 2 metres. This is similar to the height of an adult human and corresponds to the corpse in a burial shroud that we typically see in Sudan.

At the same time, the RSF and its social media accounts began seeking to reframe the narrative.

Some users shared posts showing its fighters distributing aid to civilians, while the paramilitary media office shared several clips claiming to show the humane treatment of army prisoners of war.

Despite the RSF’s social media campaign, its actions in El Fasher sparked global outrage.

BBC Verify contacted RSF and offered them the opportunity to respond to the allegations contained in this investigation. The group did not respond.

Additional reporting by Kevin Nguyen, Kumar Malhotra, Richard Irvin Brown, Alex Murray, Barbara Metzler, Lamis Talbi and Ahmed Nour. Graphics by Jess Carr and Mesut Ersuz.