DUBAI (Reuters) -An attack on a humanitarian convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Sudanese capital Khartoum killed two people and injured seven on Sunday, the ICRC said.
The wounded included three ICRC staff members, the Red Cross added in a statement.
“The humanitarian convoy, consisting of three ICRC vehicles and three buses, all clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem, was due to evacuate over a hundred vulnerable civilians from Khartoum to Wad Madani when it came under attack upon entering the evacuation area,” the statement read.
The ICRC said it is shocked and appalled by the attack, which it described as deliberate.
It did not point the finger at any party, but Sudan’s army said the convoy had come under fire after violating an agreement by approaching its defensive positions, using a car “belonging to the rebels” – a reference to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The ICRC convoy was evacuating civilians, including foreign nationals, from St. Mary’s Church in Khartoum, according to the army.
In a separate statement, the RSF accused the army of attacking the convoy. It said the incident had resulted in deaths as well as injuries.
“The humanitarian operation had been requested by and coordinated with the parties to the conflict, who gave their agreement and provided the necessary security guarantees,” the ICRC said.
The army and the RSF have been locked since mid-April in a conflict that has devastated Khartoum and triggered waves of ethnic killings in Darfur despite several diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Dubai, Ahmed Tolba, Hatem Maher and Aidan Lewis in Cairo; Editing by Nick Macfie and Ros Russell)