Civilians killed in crossfire in Sudan's second city as war spreads

FILE PHOTO: Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo

(Reuters) - As shells rained down on her neighbourhood in Sudan's Nyala city on Aug. 23, Mahla Adam decided to rush home instead of sheltering under a nearby bridge as she and many others had done during countless clashes.

But this time, a projectile hit next to the bridge, and when she returned she said she counted dozens of bodies torn apart by shrapnel -- many of them neighbours, friends and relatives, and most of them women.