Stray Bullets, Random Killings by Unknown Gunmen
Ali Taher
The rattle of bullets and the sound of gunfire within the major cities of Sudan rise every moment, and the terrifying sounds of weapons fill the air, as if celebrating death and destruction. The severed limbs of people lie on the ground, thousands have departed in a collective death due to mortar strikes, airstrikes, and drones. Meanwhile, hundreds became victims of stray bullets from unknown shooters, stray AK-47 and DShK bullets that come from a distance, swiftly settling in heads and chests, indifferent to whether the victim is a woman or a man, young or old. The only thing they offer is a swift death certificate for their victims.
"Ahmed," a young man in his twenties, sat sadly in front of his modest home in the suburb east of the Nile, east of the Sudanese capital Khartoum. The cause of his deep sadness is the tragic departure of his older brother, "Mahmoud." He said, tears falling from his small eyes: "My brother, the only breadwinner for the family, worked as a bus conductor on the Khartoum Central Market route. In one of the troubled trips, he was there when an airstrike hit. He was injured by shrapnel in his neck but miraculously survived. His joy at recovering did not last long because death was chasing him. Just two weeks after the first incident, we found him in the morning, soaked in his blood after a stray bullet pierced his head. We rushed him to the hospital, and there the doctor said: He died seven hours ago, he died murdered. Until today, we dont know who the killer is, and we couldnt take any action because the law is paralyzed, and the country is in a state of security liquidity."
Random killings here in Khartoum, in Medani, Al-Obeid, and Darfur, have not stopped at all. The hearts of survivors standing in those areas beat heavily because the specter of death pursues everyone in the streets and haunts their souls in homes. It didnt spare even those who descended beneath the citys bottoms or those groups that were displaced at the edges of their impoverished, life-deprived rural areas. In a village in the northern countryside of Bahri city, a wounded man sought refuge in a small, limited health center with a stray bullet wound to the head. Despite the efforts of the medical staff, they couldnt stop the accumulating bleeding inside the brain. His soul departed, leaving his body motionless.
When bullets spread densely in the neighborhoods of Old Bahri city, and fierce fighting intensified, groups of residents were forced to flee their homes after life stalled and livelihoods disappeared. "Abdullah" went out with his small family and stayed as a guest with his in-laws in the Haj Youssef Al-Redmiyah area. His body stayed here in East Nile, but his heart in his home in Central Bahri. After a month of forced displacement, he decided to return home. Destiny led him there, but he arrived in the afternoon. He performed ablution, and when he reached the third prostration, a stray bullet penetrated his head, ending his life instantly. He fell on the prayer mat stained with blood. His familys anxiety didnt make them wait long. They went early morning with extreme caution until they reached the house, and there they found him lifeless. The situation did not allow them to go to the cemeteries, so they were forced to bury him in the courtyard of the house, then packed their bags and left permanently to Kassala city in eastern Sudan.
The stray bullets did not stop at this point of unknown identity killings; it continues to claim victims and adds to its black list a new number of the dead. Just yesterday, a woman prepared a poor dinner for her young children. After that, they went to sleep. She, too, went to bed, putting her worries as a pillow on her head, full of problems raising her little ones. At midnight, her eldest son woke up, only to find his poor mother dead, and her bed full of blood. A stray DShK bullet hit the right side of her head, and amidst the cries of her young children, her lifeless body was taken from her modest home in the Shugla Al-Haj Youssef area to the neighboring Bandari cemetery.
"Firdous," a fortunate woman because the stray bullet did not kill her, as it did to hundreds of victims, was the middle-aged wife sitting amid her daughters under the canopy of their home in the Haj Youssef Al-Redmiyah Square 20. When a stray bullet penetrated her left arm, it opened a hole from which a waterfall of blood gushed. The cries of her young daughters summoned the neighbors, and she was rushed to the New Bani hospital. On the second day, a successful surgery was performed to extract the stray projectile, which left bad psychological effects on the victim and her family.
