A drone attack on a market in central Sudan has killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens more, according to a local human rights group. The incident adds to the rising toll in a humanitarian crisis the United Nations has called one of the worst in the world.
The attack occurred Saturday on the main market in the town of Abu Zaeima, controlled by a paramilitary force, in North Kordofan state. Emergency Lawyers, a group documenting abuses since the conflict erupted in April 2023 between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), said the casualty count could rise.
The group did not identify who carried out the attack, and neither side has claimed responsibility. Emergency Lawyers condemned the assault, saying the repeated targeting of civilians, villages, and public transport shows a blatant disregard for human life and the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. The group called for an end to such attacks and for accountability for perpetrators.
The attack came less than 24 hours after similar drone strikes hit nearby villages and a civilian vehicle. Two witnesses told AFP that another drone struck a gas station on Saturday evening in el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, which the RSF has partially besieged for months. A medical source at a local hospital said four wounded civilians had been brought in.
Drone warfare has become increasingly common in Sudan's conflict. According to the UN, at least 880 civilians have been killed in drone attacks nationwide from January to April this year. Nearly 70 others died in two separate drone strikes in West and North Kordofan states in the past week.
Fighting has intensified in Kordofan and Blue Nile state near the Ethiopian border since the RSF captured el-Fasher last October, the army's last major stronghold in western Darfur. Since then, over 300,000 people have fled frontline areas, including el-Fasher and parts of Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Kordofan, rich in oil and farmland, holds strategic importance, connecting RSF strongholds in Darfur with army-controlled areas in the east. The region remains contested between the army and RSF. The war, now in its fourth year, has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 13 million people, creating what the UN calls the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis.
