Drone strikes kill over 160 in Sudan amid escalating conflict
More than 160 people have been killed in recent drone attacks across Sudan, with both the Rapid Support Forces and government troops blamed, prompting UN condemnation.
A series of drone strikes across Sudan in recent days has resulted in the deaths of over 160 people, according to medical workers and rights monitors. The attacks, which have hit Khartoum, western regions and the eastern dam sites, are being attributed to both the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese government forces, who have been fighting since 2023.
The deadliest incident occurred near a market in Al-Dibab, West Kordofan, where a drone hit a transport hub after market hours, killing an estimated 80 people. A medical source said 47 injured were taken to Al-Mujlad, where 30 later died. The RSF-controlled administration and the monitoring group Emergency Lawyers accused the army of carrying out the strike.
In eastern Sudan, a military source reported that air defenses intercepted several RSF drones targeting the Atbara and Setit dams in Gadaref state. No comment was received from the RSF. On Monday, a drone attack on Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and an RSF stronghold, killed 17 people, including seven RSF officers, and injured 23.
An RSF-operated drone also struck a gathering of displaced persons in Blue Nile province on Friday, killing 41, according to Emergency Lawyers. The United Nations expressed alarm over the continued drone strikes, with spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stating they are killing civilians, including children, and disrupting essential services.
The conflict, which began in April 2023 after a split between military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has killed at least 59,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. The UN estimates that about 13 million people have been displaced, creating what aid agencies describe as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 33.7 million people needing food assistance and 825,000 children facing severe acute malnutrition. The United States has urged the UN Security Council to pursue a humanitarian truce and expand an arms embargo, a proposal opposed by China and Russia.