NICOSIA: Human Rights Watch said Wednesday a controversial Sudanese counter-insurgency unit has carried out “two sprees of killings and mass rape of civilians” in the conflict-hit Darfur region since February 2014.

The rights watchdog said the Rapid Support Forces, a government-backed militia, had carried out the abuses during two campaigns against rebels in the western region.

“The RSF led two counter-insurgency campaigns in the long-embattled region of Darfur in 2014 and 2015 in which its forces repeatedly attacked villages, burned and looted homes, beating, raping and executing villagers,” HRW said.