A paramilitary group at the centre of the four-month conflict in Sudan has been singled out by leading rights group and 30 United Nations experts, accused of carrying out rape and sexual violence against women in separate statements.

Sudan plunged into chaos on April 15 after simmering tensions between the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and the Sudanese Armed Forces exploded into open fighting.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that the RSF group apparently targeted non-Arab women and girls in the western Darfur region, as well as activists documenting human rights abuses during the conflict.

“The Rapid Support Forces and allied militias appear responsible for a staggering number of rapes and other war crimes during their attack on El Geneina,” HRW’s crisis and conflict director, Belkis Wille, said in a statement.