For the second time in a few days, residents of the Al-Fatihab neighborhood in the city of Omdurman, west of the capital Khartoum, are paying with their lives for searching for a source of water after the supply networks went out of service, due to the failure of engineers and technicians to reach and operate them in light of the intensifying fighting.

Thus, the remaining sources of water flowing in their scarcity have also become a source of great danger, in light of deadly attacks on the gatherings of citizens around them, which led to the death and injury of a number of them.

In the past week, renewed clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF in the city of Omdurman, particularly in the Mohandessin and Fitihab areas, have led to widespread terror among civilians.

Hajj Suleiman Hamed refers to the water line cut off for many days due to the continued fighting in the cities of the capital (Al-Jazeera)

Death is easier than thirst

Indifference to deadly projectiles seemed to be easier for residents than dying of thirst, says Haj Suleiman Hamed, who, like others, can no longer wait for the water to return to his home.

Suleiman and thousands of others find themselves in direct confrontation with the dangerous projectiles fired at their communities, claiming some lives and fleeing others.

The queues of people in the Sudanese capital with its three cities (Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri) and their gatherings in front of the water sources available in the markets have also become the target of merciless bombardment, which many have likened to the ongoing "genocide" since the outbreak of war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April.

According to the United Nations' International Organization for Migration, more than 700,<> Sudanese have fled the capital, becoming internally displaced.

Omdurman💔
market, who will compensate people who lost their homes, places to eat their livelihoods, and the misery of their lives???!!
Are they merchants of war???!!
O God, You are the mighty Avenger.
May God be kind to Sudan and its people and facilitate their safe exit from this war that exhausted them and made them homeless.#No_war_in_Sudan#You must_stop#Support_Jeddah_talks pic.twitter.com/5FnugjdmL2

— Sawsan M.Sinada (@SawsanMustafaS) June 9, 2023

Death at the water source

On Wednesday, about 30 Sudanese, about 70 cows and 109 camels were killed in the Muwailih cattle market west of Omdurman following warplane attacks on the crowded market.

Dozens were also injured in targeting gatherings around water sources or in small markets on the outskirts of Khartoum and Bahri cities established by citizens to obtain their daily needs.

One of the injured, Hudhaifa Othman, said: "We came to ask for drinking water and found the death machine waiting eagerly for us."

"Is the water cut intended to cause us to die of thirst, otherwise how can they think about bombing civilian gatherings in neighborhoods, whether for shopping or in search of drinking water like ours?" he asked.

Hajj Kamal, the father of Moussa, who was hit by a projectile that killed him, was in tears as he wondered why civilians had been targeted in such a way.

Authorities in Khartoum announced that the RSF had taken control of most of the capital's water distribution stations, which meant they were out of service and stopped drinking water supplies to about 70 percent of residential neighborhoods.