NEWS CENTER_Accusations against the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan are escalating, following their commission of a series of grave violations and mass extrajudicial killings against unarmed civilians in several areas of the country, which constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law and amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Al-Jazeera Human Rights Monitor said yesterday evening, Friday, the second of October, that mass extrajudicial killings targeted civilian citizens in the Umm Badr area of North Kordofan State in central Sudan.

It noted that some evidence indicates that the Rapid Support Forces carried out the operation in which 23 civilians were shot dead, without being given any opportunity to appear before an independent and impartial court or obtain a fair trial.

The Monitor confirmed that killing persons outside the scope of the law, especially persons who have been arrested or have come under the control of one of the parties to the conflict, constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law. It noted that extrajudicial execution, the killing of civilians or persons unable to fight, and the implementation of death sentences without a fair trial, may constitute war crimes under international law.

The Monitor called for an immediate halt to all extrajudicial killings and field executions, and the opening of an urgent, independent, impartial, and transparent investigation into these incidents and the identification of those responsible for them, including those who issued orders, incited, or assisted in committing them. It also urged ensuring the protection of civilians, detainees, and all persons not participating in hostilities, respecting the right to a fair trial and judicial guarantees, and not replacing the judiciary with field execution or punishment outside the scope of the law.