Khthon documents mass graves, atrocity crimes, and forensic evidence from conflict zones worldwide. Our work is strictly humanitarian and apolitical.
This site may contain imagery and descriptions of deceased individuals, violent injuries, and human remains gathered in the course of active investigations. Content is presented for accountability and documentation purposes only.
Khthon documents mass graves, atrocity crimes, and forensic evidence from conflict zones worldwide. Our work is strictly humanitarian and apolitical.
This site may contain imagery and descriptions of deceased individuals, violent injuries, and human remains gathered in the course of active investigations.
Khthon · Active Investigation
Since April 2023, Sudan's war between the RSF and the SAF has produced a dense, shifting map of killings and clandestine burials — nowhere more visible than in Darfur, where ethnically targeted massacres of Masalit communities have left mass graves near checkpoints, security compounds, and dry wadis at the edge of El Geneina and Ardamata.
Situation Overview
Since April 2023, Sudan's nationwide war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has produced a dense, shifting map of killings and clandestine burials. Nowhere has this been more visible than in Darfur, where RSF and allied militias carried out large-scale, ethnically targeted massacres of Masalit communities in and around El Geneina and Ardamata.
Survivors describe roundups at checkpoints and in neighborhoods, executions near security compounds, and bodies dumped in wadis or buried in hastily cut trenches at the town's edge. Elsewhere, fighting in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Nyala has driven ad-hoc burials in hospital grounds, open lots, and cemetery extensions as front lines move.
Independent forensic access is rare. Communications blackouts and intimidation of witnesses mean many graves are documented only by those who fled across the border to Chad, or by fragments of video that surface after the fact.
GEOINT Methodology
For Khthon as a GEOINT organisation, Sudan combines patterns from both insurgency and state warfare.
Multi-Sensor Fusion Workflow
01 · SATINT
Time-Series Imagery
Cross-referencing FIRMS hotspots with time-series satellite imagery refines searches for new graves near freshly burned settlements. Machine-cut trench geometry and spoil mounds are identified against pre-conflict baselines.
02 · SOCMINT / HUMINT
Survivor Testimony
FIRMS data is integrated with SOCMINT and HUMINT from survivors and local reporters, building incident chronologies that connect detention and execution centres to burial sites across the conflict zone.
03 · RECORD
Permanent Evidence
Our workflow preserves evidence in one of the world's most hostile environments for forensic access — ensuring that even temporary satellite visibility is converted into permanent records of atrocity.
2003–2008
First Darfur genocide — Janjaweed campaigns
The Sudanese government arms Arab Janjaweed militias to suppress the Sudan Liberation Movement and Justice and Equality Movement, triggering a campaign of mass killing, sexual violence, and displacement against Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa communities. An estimated 200,000–400,000 people are killed. The ICC issues arrest warrants for President Omar al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 — the first sitting head of state indicted by the court.
2019
Overthrow of al-Bashir — the transitional period
Mass protests topple Omar al-Bashir after 30 years. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), play a central role in the transition — and massacre over 100 protesters in the Khartoum sit-in. A fragile civilian–military transitional government is formed. Mass grave sites from the Darfur era remain uninvestigated and inaccessible.
APR 2023
War breaks out — RSF vs. SAF
Fighting erupts between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on 15 April 2023 in Khartoum. Within days the conflict spreads across Darfur, Kordofan, and other regions. El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, becomes the site of immediate mass atrocities as RSF and allied Arab militias launch coordinated attacks on Masalit neighborhoods. The UN documents killings at checkpoints, in homes, and at displacement sites.
MAY–NOV 2023
El Geneina and Ardamata massacres
Multiple waves of ethnically targeted killing in and around El Geneina kill an estimated 10,000–15,000 people, predominantly Masalit. Survivors and satellite imagery document mass graves near security compounds, wadi beds, and the town's edges. In November 2023, RSF forces attack Ardamata camp for displaced people, killing hundreds. Bodies are reportedly dumped in trenches and left in public spaces. Witnesses describe executions at checkpoints along the Chad border road.
2023–2024
Khartoum and Omdurman — urban warfare burials
Sustained fighting in Khartoum and Omdurman collapses formal mortuary infrastructure. Hospitals become overwhelmed; bodies are buried in hospital grounds, open lots, and improvised cemetery extensions. SAF airstrikes and RSF ground operations cause mass civilian casualties. Communications blackouts prevent systematic documentation. Khthon monitors cemetery perimeter expansion via time-series satellite imagery after major casualty events.
2024
Nyala and South Darfur — expanding front
RSF forces capture Nyala, Sudan's second-largest city, triggering further mass displacement and killings. Satellite imagery shows new soil disturbance consistent with trench burials at the city's margins. FIRMS fire anomaly data tracks widespread burning of villages in South Darfur and Kordofan, which Khthon cross-references with time-series imagery to locate potential grave sites near destroyed settlements.
Ongoing
Khthon monitoring — SATINT, FIRMS, SOCMINT fusion
Khthon maintains active monitoring of Sudan using multi-sensor fusion: NASA FIRMS hotspot data for fire anomalies linked to airstrikes and village burning, satellite time-series for machine-cut trench geometry and cemetery expansion, and SOCMINT/HUMINT from survivors and local reporters. Independent forensic access remains rare. Our methodology converts temporary satellite visibility into permanent records of atrocity before burial sites are obscured or destroyed.
Browse Khthon's full catalogue of country and case reports across seven global regions, or get involved with our ongoing investigations.
