Fifteen bodies have been recovered from a well in a part of Sudan recently recaptured from paramilitary Rapid Support Forces by the army. - REUTERS
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00:00In a part of Sudan recently recaptured by the army, Red Crescent volunteers are pulling
00:06bodies out of a well. Until a few weeks ago, this area, Shargel Nil, was under the control
00:13of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
00:17Hisham Zain Al Abdeen, director of forensic medicine for Khartoum state, says most of
00:22the 15 victims had been shot in the head.
00:29We found this mass grave inside this well. The injuries were caused by gunshots, head
00:34injuries, the entry and exit points of the bullets are there. The cause of death in some
00:43cases is bone fractures because of the fall. So they were throwing people into the well.
00:55Nearly two years into Sudan's civil war and government forces have been advancing into
00:59territory long held by the RSF. Authorities say they are finding widespread evidence of
01:06killings in areas formerly under RSF control.
01:11Zain Al Abdeen said other bodies have been found scattered on roadsides or hidden in
01:15basements with some of the victims tied up. The RSF did not respond to a request for comment.
01:22It has in the past denied accusations of widespread abuses and said individual perpetrators would
01:28be held to account. It has also accused the army of carrying out its own abuses, which
01:33the army denies.
01:36Hussein Al Faki is one of the residents who reported the bodies in the well to the authorities.
01:41He said locals had tried to bury the victims while the area was under RSF control, but
01:47the armed men had warned us not to go near them. He says if you got closer they would
01:54shoot you, so we ran away and left them.