The report, Death Came To Our Home: War Crimes and Civilian Suffering In Sudan, documents mass civilian casualties in both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks by the warring parties. The report also details sexual violence against women and girls, targeted attacks on civilian objects such as hospitals and churches, and extensive looting.

Some of the violations documented – such as attacks targeting civilians, attacks on humanitarian infrastructure, rape and other sexual violence, and pillage – amount to war crimes. The report focuses primarily on Khartoum and West Darfur.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said: “Civilians throughout Sudan are suffering unimaginable horror every single day as the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces recklessly vie for control of territory.”

She added: “People are being killed inside their homes, or while desperately searching for food, water and medicine. They are being caught in crossfire while fleeing, and shot deliberately in targeted attacks. Scores of women and girls, some as young as 12, have been raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence by members of the warring sides. Nowhere is safe.”

Since 15 April 2023, the SAF and the paramilitary RSF have been fighting for control of Sudan.

Men, women and children have been caught in crossfire as both sides, often using explosive weapons with wide area effects, have launched frequent attacks in densely populated civilian neighbourhoods.

Fighting began in the Kalakla neighbourhood in southern Khartoum on 20 April. Kodi Abbas, a 55-year-old teacher, told Amnesty International that two of his sons, Hassan, six, and Ibrahim, eight, and his nephew Koko, seven, were killed as they tried to escape gunfire.

He said: “My wife and my children ran away from home when clashes broke out in our neighbourhood… but my two youngest boys… were small and couldn’t run away fast enough… I don’t know who shot them. The war killed them.”

Amnesty International has not been able to ascertain which side fired the shots that killed the three boys.

Ala’ Fawzi al-Mardi, a 26-year-old doctor, was killed in her home in Omdurman’s Hay al-Manara neighbourhood on 15 April, the day clashes first erupted.

Fawzi al-Mardi, her father, told Amnesty International that his wife was also seriously wounded. He said: “That morning we woke up to hell. The sound of shooting and bombing was everywhere, relentless… I was worried about my daughter Ala’ who had gone to work at the hospital.

“A few minutes after she had arrived home, a bullet came through the living room window, and it hit my wife in the face. It went through the right side of her face and neck, and then it hit Ala’ in the chest, killing her instantly. That one single bullet destroyed our family in the space of a few seconds… As soon as [Ala’] arrived home, where she should have been safe, death came to our home.”

Scores of women and girls, some as young as 12, have been subjected to sexual violence, including rape, by members of the warring sides. Some were held for days in conditions of sexual slavery.

A 25-year-old woman from El Geneina told Amnesty International that three armed Arab men in civilian clothes forced her into the Civil Records building in the al-Jamarik neighbourhood on 22 June, where they raped her.

In another case, a group of 24 women and girls were abducted by RSF members and taken to a hotel where they were held for several days in conditions amounting to sexual slavery. Many survivors have had no access to medical and psychosocial support.

Amnesty International is calling on the UN Security Council to swiftly extend the arms embargo that currently applies to Darfur to the whole of Sudan, and ensure it is enforced.

Ms Callamard said: “The international community should significantly increase humanitarian support for Sudan, and neighbouring countries must ensure their borders are open to civilians seeking safety.

“The international community must also immediately extend the existing arms embargo to all of Sudan and ensure its enforcement. Countries with significant leverage over the warring parties must use their influence to end the violations.

“The Human Rights Council should heed the calls from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and establish an independent investigative and accountability mechanism to monitor, collect, and preserve evidence of human rights violations in Sudan.”