The Sudan Shield Forces, an armed group that fights alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), intentionally targeted civilians in an attack on January 10, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today.
The attack on the village of Tayba in Gezira state in central Sudan killed at least 26 people, including a child, and injured more. The group also systematically looted civilian property, including food supplies, and set fire to houses. These acts constitute war crimes and some, such as the deliberate killings of civilians, may also constitute potential crimes against humanity.
"Armed groups fighting alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces have carried out violent abuses against civilians in their latest offensive in Gezira state," said Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Sudanese authorities should urgently investigate all reported abuses and hold to account those responsible, including the commanders of the Sudan Shield Forces."
The January 10 attack was part of a deadly surge in attacks by SAF-aligned groups and militias against communities in Gezira and other areas the army recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since January 2025. Armed attackers, including the Sudan Shield Forces, the Islamist al-Baraa Ibn Malik battalion, and local militias, targeted communities they apparently perceived to be supporters of the RSF, an autonomous military force in conflict with the SAF since April 2023. The SAF recaptured the capital of Gezira state, Wad Madani, on January 11.
Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed eight survivors of the attack on Tayba who also witnessed key events surrounding that attack. Researchers also analyzed satellite imagery and photographs and videos shared by survivors that showed the bodies of some of those who had been killed, fire damage caused by the assailants, and graves of victims, and a list of 13 of those killed. A committee of Tayba residents established to count the dead confirmed that 26 were killed.
Tayba, 30 kilometers east of Wad Madani in the Um al-Qura district, is home to people primarily from the Tama, Bergo, and Mararit ethnic groups, originally from western Sudan. Such communities of farm workers from mostly non-Arab ethnic groups in western and southern Sudan who settled in the area decades ago are known as "Kanabi." Other Kanabi communities have come under attack in recent weeks.
On the morning of January 10, dozens of Sudan Shield fighters, whom residents described as Arab, entered Tayba riding Toyota Land Cruisers mounted with heavy machine guns. Witnesses said they shot indiscriminately at men and boys and set buildings on fire. They attacked the village again in the afternoon as residents were burying the victims, going from house to house looking for men and boys, and again killing, looting, and burning, witnesses said.
A 60-year-old man said gunmen wearing green camouflage and riding in Toyota Land Cruisers attacked him at close range. "They said, 'Stop!' and then shot me near my kidney with a Kalashnikov [rifle]," he said. A man who witnessed the scene said he heard the assailants shout racial slurs such as "You slave!" as they were shooting.
One woman said that "They… came in the house where we were and asked where all our husbands were. And they started to threaten everyone, that they were going to harm us and our husbands. 'Do you not know who Keikel's troops are? Do you not know who we are?'" she recalled the men saying, referring to Abu Aqla Keikel, the leader of the Sudan Shield Forces.
Keikel formed the Sudan Shield Forces in 2022, recruiting mainly from Arab communities of Gezira state. The group fought on the side of the SAF from April 2023 to August 2023, but then defected to the RSF. In October 2024, Keikel and the Sudan Shield went back to fighting for the SAF. In response, the RSF carried out a wave of attacks against communities it presumed were loyal to Keikel, committing atrocities including widespread sexual violence against women and girls. With Sudan's military recapturing Gezira and other areas of Sudan since January, civilians are bearing the brunt of retaliatory violence, this time by SAF-aligned forces who accuse them of collaborating with the RSF when it held the areas.
Witnesses said the military vehicles bore the words "Sudan Shield" and described an emblem consistent with that of the Sudan Shield Forces. They described widespread looting of money, food, and livestock, including 2,000 cattle. All witnesses said the people in the village had no guns and could not and did not resist the January 10 attack.
Videos received and verified by Human Rights Watch corroborate the attack on Tayba and contain evidence of crimes in other locations in Gezira state around the same time. Video clips geolocated to Wad Madani that appeared on social media show SAF-aligned fighters carrying out torture and extrajudicial killings against unarmed people. Reports of killings of South Sudanese by SAF-aligned forces in Wad Madani sparked retaliatory violence against Sudanese civilians in South Sudan, which prompted a diplomatic crisis between Sudan and South Sudan.
Killing and maiming civilians, looting, and the deliberate targeting and destruction of civilian property are war crimes. Under the doctrine of command responsibility, military commanders may be responsible for war crimes committed by subordinate members of the armed forces or other fighters subject to their control.
The SAF has condemned the abuses in eastern Gezira but described them as "individual transgressions" and said it would hold those responsible accountable. In the aftermath of the attack on Tayba, residents said government investigators visited the site and interviewed key witnesses. Alongside this, witnesses said that vehicles from the Joint Force of the Armed Movements, a SAF-aligned coalition of largely Darfuri armed groups, were deployed to Tayba to protect the population. Yet, SAF generals including General Yasir al-Atta, who sits on the ruling Sovereignty Council, have publicly appeared with Keikel since then and praised his contribution to the war effort.
The SAF should investigate the attack on Tayba and other abuses carried out by affiliated armed groups and militias, publish the outcomes of its investigations, and take steps to hold all those responsible, including commanders, to account, Human Rights watch said. The SAF should suspend Keikel and other key Sudan Shield commanders pending the outcome of the investigation.
"There is clear evidence that SAF-aligned forces are responsible for gruesome killings and atrocities against civilians," Gallopin said. "International actors, including the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, should actively support robust initiatives to protect civilians in Sudan and swiftly impose targeted sanctions on those responsible, including Abu Aqla Keikel."
