The Sudanese army and allied armed groups said they repelled a major, multi-pronged attack on Monday by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on El Fasher, the army’s last stronghold in the Darfur region.

The assault marked an escalation after weeks of relative calm in ground fighting, during which the besieged city continued to suffer from RSF artillery and drone strikes that have caused dozens of civilian casualties, residents and local groups say.

Fighting on Monday began with heavy RSF shelling on targets across the city, including the army’s 6th Infantry Division headquarters and the Abu Shouk camp for displaced persons, followed by a ground attack on three fronts, according to local sources and officials.

A spokesman for the joint force allied with the army claimed the attacking RSF force suffered heavy losses, with more than 200 fighters killed and over 46 combat vehicles destroyed or captured.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield claims.

The governor of Darfur, Minni Arko Minawi, who is aligned with the army, said on the social media platform X that the attack had been successfully repulsed. He accused the RSF, which he referred to as the “Janjaweed militia,” of starving civilians “amid the world’s silence.”

Video clips posted on platforms affiliated with the army and its allies appeared to show destroyed military vehicles and bodies of fighters described as RSF members.

The RSF has not commented on the attack. The force had used the nearby Zamzam camp for displaced people as a base to assemble hundreds of vehicles ahead of the assault, the joint force spokesman said.

As the fighting raged, witnesses reported that unaffiliated armed groups carried out widespread looting in the city’s only functioning market after forcing out merchants.