CAIRO (AP) — A U.N. humanitarian team visited el-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region for the first time since a paramilitary force overran the city in October, carrying out a rampage that is believed to have killed hundreds of people and sent most of the population fleeing.

The hours-long visit gave the U.N. its first glimpse into the city, which remains under control of the Rapid Support Forces. The team found hundreds of people still living there, lacking adequate access to food, medical supplies and proper shelter, the U.N. said Wednesday.

“It was a tense mission because we’re going into what we don’t know … into a massive crime scene,” Denise Brown, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said of Friday’s visit.

For the past two months, el-Fasher has been nearly entirely cut off from the outside world, leaving aid groups unsure over how many people remained there and their situation. The death toll from the RSF takeover, which came after a more than a year-long siege, remains unknown.

Survivors among the more than 100,000 people who fled el-Fasher reported RSF fighters gunning down civilians in homes and in the streets, leaving the city littered with bodies. Satellite photos have since appeared to show RSF disposing of bodies in mass graves or by burning them.

Source: AP