Sudan war: New videos show executions after RSF militia takes key city

Most of the clips reviewed by BBC Verify are in dusty and sandy rural locations, making it hard to say where exactly they took place. However, we did geolocate one video showing the summary shooting of an unarmed man at a university building in el-Fasher.

The clip showed the unarmed man sitting amid dozens of dead bodies in a hallway. As the video progressed, he was seen turning towards the camera which followed an armed man who was descending the stairs. The fighter then raised his rifle and fired a single shot knocking the unarmed man to the ground, where he lay motionless.

A number of similarly distressing clips are circulating online, but are difficult to geolocate as they are recorded outside the city itself where there are very few visible landmarks. But BBC Verify has managed to place one of the fighters who appeared in multiple execution videos in the area around el-Fasher in recent days.

The fighter, who goes by the name of Abu Lulu, has long had his activities with the RSF documented on a social media profile viewed by BBC Verify.

A video which first appeared online over the weekend showed him amidst dead bodies in an area north-west of the city. Working with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), BBC Verify has been able to confirm the location of this footage, but it’s difficult to say whether the dead in the clip are civilians or SAF troops killed in fighting due to the quality of the video.

But Abu Lulu has also appeared in at least two videos which show him participating in the execution of unarmed men who are kneeling and under armed guard. Reverse image searches show all the videos have appeared online since the weekend.

In one video he was seen addressing an injured man lying on the ground, berating him for not sharing information before threatening to rape him. The RSF fighter then shot the captive several times using an automatic rifle.

A separate video shows Abu Lulu standing alongside several RSF troops carrying AK-style assault rifles and guarding a group of at least nine unarmed captives. After addressing the men, Abu Lulu aimed his rifle at the group and opened fire. In the aftermath the other armed men raised their arms and cheered.

In another clip the fighter was seen standing alongside several other armed men with dozens of dead bodies visible in the background. Some of the fighters were wearing RSF style uniforms, one of which has a circular patch with a black line running around the circumference – consistent with the paramilitary’s insignia.