Sudan’s government has been accused of killing scores of civilians this year in at least 30 suspected chemical weapons attacks in a remote area of the country’s Darfur region.

In a report released on Thursday, Amnesty International estimated that up to 250 people, including many children, may have died as a result of exposure to the chemical weapons agents in the Jebel Marra area since January.

The UK-based rights group, which said that its investigation was based on satellite imagery and more than 200 interviews, alleged that the most recent attack occurred on September 9.

“There have been relentless attacks, there have been crimes against humanity, and now this level of viciousness with the use of suspected chemical weapons,” Tirana Hassan, Amnesty’s director of Crisis Research, told Al Jazeera.

“The use of chemical weapons is a war crime. The evidence we have gathered is credible and portrays a regime that is intent on directing attacks against the civilian population in Darfur without any fear of international retribution,” said Hassan.

Amnesty said it had presented its findings to two independent chemical weapons experts.

“Both concluded that the evidence strongly suggested exposure to vesicants, or blister agents, such as the chemical warfare agents sulfur mustard, Lewisite or nitrogen mustard,” the watchdog said in a statement.

Read More: aljazeera