An attack by Sudanese paramilitaries on South Kordofan has killed at least 14 people, including five children and two women, according to a medical group.

The Sudan Doctors Network said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North shelled residential areas in the city of Dilling in an attack that lasted hours, leaving at least 23 others wounded, including seven children.

The military, which this year broke an RSF siege on the city that saw supplies cut off and frequent bombardment, said it fended off the attack on the capital of South Kordofan province.

The doctors’ group warned of a possible “catastrophic scenario” akin to the one that occurred in the Darfur city of el-Fasher. The RSF invaded that area in October in an attack that United Nations-commissioned experts said bore “hallmarks of genocide”.

More than 6,000 people were killed over three days in el-Fasher when the RSF unleashed “a wave of intense violence … shocking in its scale and brutality”, according to a report from the UN Human Rights Office.

The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF erupted in mid-April 2023, unleashing a wave of violence that has led to one of the world’s fastest-growing man-made humanitarian crises, with more than 12 million forced from their homes, and more than 33 million people in need of humanitarian aid.

More than 40,000 people have been killed over the past three years, according to UN figures. Aid groups say that the true death toll could be many times higher.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which are being investigated by the International Criminal Court.

The fighting has recently centred on Darfur and the Kordofan region, where deadly attacks, mostly by drones, have been reported daily.

The UN Human Rights Office said more than 500 civilians were killed in drone strikes this year, as of mid-March.