Dozens of people have been killed in a drone strike at a displacement shelter in el-Fasher, a besieged Sudanese city on the brink of collapse, activists said.

The resistance committee for el-Fasher, made up of local citizens and activists, said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) hit Dar al-Arqam camp, located within a university, with two drone strikes and eight artillery shells. The RSF has denied it carried out the strike.

Children, women and the elderly were killed in cold blood, and many were completely burned, a statement from the group stated.

Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic as rescuers pulled bodies from the rubble.

Sudan Doctors Network reported that 57 people were killed in the drone attack, including 17 children, and 17 were injured, although activists claimed at least 60 fatalities.

Hospitals already struggling under months of siege have been overwhelmed, with doctors treating the wounded on floors and in corridors.

The RSF has surrounded el-Fasher for the last 17 months, attempting to take control of the Sudanese army's last stronghold in the Darfur region.

The situation in el-Fasher has gone beyond disaster and genocide, the resistance group asserted.

The ongoing conflict in Sudan began in 2023 after a fallout between top commanders of the RSF and the Sudanese army, resulting in a brutal power struggle that has become one of the worst humanitarian crises.

El-Fasher is currently the last major urban center in Darfur still under army control, while the RSF dominates most of Darfur and parts of neighboring Kordofan.

Experts suggest that the city could soon fall if the army does not receive immediate reinforcements.

The RSF has also completed an earthen wall around el-Fasher, intensifying their siege and preventing civilian escape.

The UN reports that 250,000 civilians are trapped in el-Fasher, warning that ongoing attacks on civilian areas may constitute war crimes.

As residents cope with constant bombardment, hunger and disease have begun to spread. Just days prior, 13 people died in shelling of one of the last remaining hospitals in el-Fasher.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk condemned the ongoing violence against civilians, stating, I am appalled by the RSF's endless and wanton disregard for civilian life. Over 150,000 individuals have died in the conflict across Sudan, with around 12 million displaced from their homes.