ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi foreign ministry on Friday said it is working “with the highest priority” to assist its community trapped in Sudan as armed clashes between government forces and rebels engulf the country and its capital. Intense fighting in Sudan between forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the comamnder of the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) more commonly referred to as Hemeti, has killed over 400 people and injured thousands more since the clashes erupted on Saturday. Both forces ignored ceasefire calls on the holy Muslim occasion of Eid al-Fitr and continued fierce clashes as the capital Khartoum was rocked by explosions and endless sounds of gunfire for the sixth day in a row. “We are working with the highest priority to provide a response to our honorable community in Sudan,” Iraqi foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed al-Sahaf said in a statement. According to the latest tally from the World Health Organization, 413 people have been killed and 3,551 injured in the clashes in Sudan. “We are coordinating with the concerned authorities there,” Sahaf added in the statement. The RSF mostly comprise of the Janjaweed, a powerful militia group that committed years of brutal violence in Sudan’s eastern Darfur region and have been accused of human rights abuses, murder, and rape of the African tribes in the region.
