Eyewitnesses from Bara: Executions inside homes and bodies on the streets

7 November 2025

Harrowing accounts have emerged of summary executions carried out inside homes by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 25 after they seized control of the strategic city of Bara in North Kordofan State.

“We saw bodies from inside the city of Bara all the way until we left the city,” said one eyewitness, Ismail, who miraculously managed to escape the carnage and eventually made it to El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State. “On Friday night, Saturday morning, there was a massive bombing that terrified all the residents of Bara,” Ismail recounts. “They would knock on your door and [then] storm into the house. They wouldn’t talk to you – just beat you.”

While the distance between Bara and El Obeid is 56 kilometres, says Khalid Majoub, a volunteer supporting the displaced from Bara, many took a week to reach the town due to insecurity along the way. An estimated 3,000 displaced have come from Bara to El Obeid, Mahjoub added. As of today, the Sudanese Doctors Network reported that many people are still missing since the RSF siege on Bara.

By taking Bara, the RSF is effectively encircling El Obeid, positioning the Kordofan region as the new central front in the war.