CAIRO — A leading rights group on Monday called for an international force to protect civilians in war-torn Sudan amid reports that a notorious paramilitary group has killed dozens of civilians and committed widespread rapes during a rampage in a province neighboring Khartoum.

Sudan has been plunged into war for nearly 19 months in a struggle for power between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has been accused of atrocities in multiple areas where it has seized control.

Human Rights Watch said the RSF has “killed, injured, and unlawfully detained scores of civilians and raped women and girls” in Gezira. It urged Britain to use its turn as president of the United Nations Security Council this month to push for U.N. action to deploy a mission to protect civilians in Sudan.

More than 24,000 people have been killed and more than 14 million people have been driven from their homes, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, or IOM.

– The Associated Press