Paramilitary drone attack on mosque in Sudan kills at least 70, army says
Cairo (AP): A drone attack blamed on Sudan's paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces struck a mosque during prayers Friday, killing at least 70 worshippers in the North Darfur region, aid workers and the Sudanese army said.
The strike in the besieged city of El Fasher completely destroyed the mosque, and the death toll would likely go higher because bodies still were buried in the rubble, said a worker with the local aid group Emergency Response Rooms. The worker spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.
Sudan's army, which has been fighting against the RSF in escalating violence since April 2023, said in a statement that it was mourning the deaths of at least 70 victims in the attack.
“Targeting civilians unjustly is the motto of this rebel militia, and it continues to do so in full view of the entire world,” the statement read.
Further details of the attack were difficult to obtain because it happened in an area where many international organisations have pulled out due to security risks in the crossfire of battles between the RSF and the army.
The fight between the two sides has erupted into a civil war that has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organisation, displaced as many as 12 million others and pushed many to the brink of famine.
The Resistance Committees in El Fasher, a group of local activists who track abuses, posted a video Friday reportedly showing parts of the mosque reduced to rubble with several scattered bodies. The Associated Press could not independently verify the footage.
The Darfur Victims Support Organization, which monitors abuses against civilians, said the attack happened at a mosque on the Daraga al-Oula street at around 5 am local time, citing witnesses.
The drone strike was the latest in a series of attacks over the past week during heavy clashes between the two sides in El Fasher.
Satellite imagery posted Friday by the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale University showed signs of drone activity and the impact of explosions in the El Fasher area earlier in the week.
The images showed damage to several structures in the famine-stricken Abu Shouk refugee camp, Located outside El Fasher, the camp houses 450,000 displaced people and has been repeatedly attacked throughout the war.
“El Fasher is falling to RSF forces," who now control the Abu Shouk camp and have overrun the local operational headquarters of the army, the Yale-based group said.
The Resistance Committee in El Fasher said in a statement Thursday that the RSF had targeted several unarmed civilians, including women and older adults, in displacement shelters in the city.
On Tuesday, the Sudan Doctors Network had said that the RSF killed 18 people and kidnapped 14 others, including three girls, in El Fasher in what it said was a surge in kidnappings.
A Friday report by UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) recorded the deaths of at least 3,384 civilians in Sudan, mostly in Darfur, between January and June, nearly 80% of the number of civilian casualties recorded in 2024. The real death toll is likely significantly higher.
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Syndicate extorting money from Rajasthan bus conductors for decades dismantled, 8 held
Kota(Rajasthan) (PTI): Police busted a syndicate that allegedly extorted money from Rajasthan Roadways bus conductors by forcing them to charge passengers without issuing tickets, even as they offered the conductors protection from vigilance checks, officials said.
Jhalawar Police carried out simultaneous raids across 12 districts and arrested eight people, including the gang leader, Narendra Singh Rajawat, an independent ward councillor in Jhalawar.
With this, the decades-long operations of the gang, which has caused substantial loss to the state transport corporation, has been dismantled, they said.
As part of 'Operation Clean Ride', police also captured the exchange of money on video in a sting operation, a senior officer said on Saturday.
Since the gang would pass on messages regarding vigilance teams to the bus conductors through STD phone booths in the early days of its operation, it came be known as the 'STD Gang'.
The gang threatened roadways staff with false complaints of corruption for not issuing tickets to passengers and job termination if the payments were not made.
The gang allegedly facilitated "large-scale ticketless travel" and shared "confidential vigilance information", resulting in heavy revenue loss to the state, police said.
Police claimed the gang's activities caused revenue losses of up to 40 per cent at certain locations.
Speaking in detail on the matter on Saturday, Jhalawar Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar said following a confidential complaint received on December 24, 2025, police began a discreet investigation.
Technical evidence, call detail records and UPI transaction details were collected by the probe team. A sting operation was conducted that recorded members of the accepting illegal payments from conductors at different bus stands.
Based on the findings, a coordinated raid plan was executed, and all arrests were made simultaneously so that they would have no time to flee or destroy evidence.
Police arrested eight accused, including gang leader Narendra Singh Rajawat. Rs 11,57,980 in cash, three cars, two motorcycles, one laptop, 15 mobile phones, a spy camera pen, roadways identity cards, STD diaries, bus security slips, passbooks, cheque books and several other documents were seized from them.
Additional detentions were made with the help of local police in Ajmer, Tonk, Chittorgarh, Jodhpur, Pratapgarh, Jaipur, Banswara, Kota and Agar in Madhya Pradesh for further investigation, the SP said.
Police said the syndicate had been operating in a structured and organised manner for several years. They allegedly collected between Rs 50 and Rs 200 per conductor per trip and Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,500 per bus in exchange for bypassing checks and suppressing violations.
Conductors who refused to pay were allegedly targeted through vigilance complaints and harassment, the officer said.
The probe also revealed that multiple criminal cases had earlier been registered against members of the gang in different police stations for offences including obstruction of public servants, assault, criminal intimidation and violations under the IPC and SC/ST Act. Several of these cases are currently pending trial in court.
The SP said police are coordinating with Rajasthan Roadways management for further investigation and to set up preventive measures for the future.
'Operation Clean Ride' involved district special teams, cyber teams and police personnel from multiple districts. Further investigation is underway to identify others involved in the syndicate and assess the total revenue loss caused, police said.
