Sudan: More than 160 Killed as Drone Attacks Escalate
Al Jazeera Staff
A surge in drone strikes across Sudan has killed more than 160 people in recent days, with attacks attributed to both the RSF and government forces. The deadliest strike hit a market transit point in West Kordofan, killing 80, as the UN voiced alarm over civilians, including children, being killed.
A wave of drone attacks across Sudan has killed more than 160 people in recent days, according to medical sources and human rights groups. The strikes are attributed to both the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and government forces, amid fighting that has dragged on since 2023 and a growing use of drones in recent months that has driven civilian casualties ever higher.
According to Emergency Lawyers, a group that monitors violence against civilians in Sudan's civil war, drone attacks on the capital Khartoum on Monday killed three children, while more than 160 people were reported dead in western areas since Friday.
The deadliest recent attack came on Sunday evening near a market in the town of Al-Dibab in West Kordofan state in the southwest, an area controlled by the RSF. Residents and medical workers said a drone struck a transit point where villagers gathered after market day to find transport home, killing 80 people. Citing medical sources, AFP reported that 47 other wounded people were taken to the nearby town of Al-Mujlad, where 30 later died of their injuries.
The RSF's self-declared administration, known as Tasis, and Emergency Lawyers both blamed the army for the attack.
Strikes target hydroelectric dams
In eastern Sudan, a military source said on Sunday that air defences intercepted multiple RSF drones targeting the Atbara and Setit dams in Gadaref state, about 420 km east of Khartoum. The RSF did not immediately comment.
In the early hours of Monday, another drone attack targeted Nyala, an RSF stronghold and the capital of South Darfur state. Medical sources and the RSF said 17 people, including seven RSF officers, were killed and 23 wounded.
Earlier, according to Emergency Lawyers, an RSF drone attack on Friday on a gathering of displaced people in Blue Nile province, near the Ethiopian border, killed 41 people. The group condemned the strike, calling it a humanitarian tragedy.
UN condemns attacks
On Monday the United Nations condemned the deadly attacks. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters: "We are alarmed by the continuing drone strikes across the country, which are killing civilians, including children, and disrupting essential services."
Background to the conflict
The current war in Sudan began in April 2023, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, fell out over plans to integrate the paramilitary force into the Sudanese army. In June, Hemedti was sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes.
The fighting is now in its fourth year and has killed at least 59,000 people, according to the conflict monitor ACLED. Aid groups say the true figure is likely higher. According to the UN, about 13 million people have been forced from their homes, creating what aid organisations describe as the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
Across Sudan, 33.7 million people, including 17.3 million children, are in need of emergency food assistance this year. The UN estimates that about 825,000 children face severe acute malnutrition.
On Friday, the United States called on the UN Security Council to push for a humanitarian ceasefire and an expanded arms embargo on Sudan, but China and Russia opposed broadening the embargo.
