More than 160 people have been killed in a series of drone attacks across Sudan in recent days, medics and rights groups said, as the country’s civil war enters its fourth year.
Three children died in drone strikes on the capital, Khartoum, on Monday, according to Emergency Lawyers, which monitors violence against civilians. More than 160 additional deaths have been reported in western regions since Friday.
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The attacks have been attributed to both the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and government troops, who have been battling since 2023. The growing deployment of drones in recent months has contributed to a rising civilian death toll.
The deadliest reported strike took place Sunday evening near a market in al-Dabba, a town in the southwestern state of West Kordofan controlled by the RSF. Residents and medical workers said a drone hit a transport hub where villagers had gathered to find rides home after market day, killing 80 people.
Medical workers transported 47 injured people to the nearby town of al-Mujlad, where 30 later died of their wounds, a medical source told the AFP news agency.
The RSF’s self-declared administration, known as Tasis, and Emergency Lawyers blamed the army for the strike.
Attacks on dams
In eastern Sudan, air defences intercepted several RSF drones on Sunday as they targeted the Atbara and Setit dams in Gadarif state, a military source said. The sites are about 420km east of Khartoum. The RSF did not immediately comment.
Another drone strike hit Nyala, the RSF stronghold and capital of South Darfur, early Monday. Medical and RSF sources said 17 people, including seven RSF officers, were killed and 23 others wounded.
Emergency Lawyers said an RSF drone strike on Friday hit a gathering of displaced people in Sudan’s Blue Nile province, near the Ethiopian border, killing 41 people.
The group denounced the attack as a humanitarian tragedy.
The United Nations also condemned the deadly strikes.
“We are alarmed by the continued deadly drone strikes across the country that are killing civilians, including children, and that are disrupting central services,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Monday.
At least 59,000 killed
The war began in April 2023 after military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, broke with each other over plans to integrate the paramilitary force into the army.
Hemedti was sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes in June this year.
Now in its fourth year, the conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, according to the conflict monitor ACLED. Aid organisations warn that the true figure is probably higher.
The UN estimates that about 13 million people have been driven from their homes, producing what aid groups describe as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
Some 33.7 million people across Sudan, among them 17.3 million children, will urgently require food assistance this year. The UN estimates that 825,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
The United States on Friday called on the UN Security Council to pursue a humanitarian truce and broaden an arms embargo on Sudan. China and Russia opposed expanding the embargo.
