At least 36 people were killed when a drone struck a crowded market in Sudan’s Darfur region, Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday, as attacks on civilian sites mount and the country’s humanitarian disaster worsens.
The Sudanese Armed Forces targeted the market in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on Monday evening, according to the medical aid group, known by its French acronym MSF. The strike caused “complete devastation,” MSF said. A separate drone attack hit a residential neighborhood.
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Nyala Teaching Hospital, which receives support from MSF, had taken in 36 bodies by Tuesday. Twenty-one of the dead were wearing civilian clothing, the organization said. More than 150 injured people were treated in the emergency department, including children and many victims with shrapnel injuries and serious burns.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, which has been at war with Sudan’s military since April 2023, reported a far higher toll. It said 188 civilians had died and 356 others were injured. The figures could not immediately be independently confirmed.
The Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, had not issued a statement on the attack by Tuesday.
MSF urged both warring parties to safeguard civilians and stop attacking markets, homes and vital civilian infrastructure.
The Nyala strike follows a string of attacks on places where civilians gather. A drone attack on another market in the city on Oct. 16 killed at least four people and wounded many others. In a separate incident, at least 80 people were killed in an attack on a market in the Abyei region near Sudan’s border with South Sudan.
The United Nations has reported additional drone strikes in several parts of Khartoum in recent days, including near the capital’s airport. Strikes have also been reported in West Darfur, South Darfur and North Kordofan.
Drones have become an increasingly common weapon in Sudan’s civil war. The U.N. Human Rights Office said drone attacks killed at least 1,120 civilians during the first half of 2026. Both the SAF and RSF have faced accusations of conducting operations that put civilians at risk.
The war, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands of people and driven more than 14 million from their homes, producing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies.
International community fails Darfur
The latest bloodshed comes as Sudan’s government presses for international accountability over atrocities in Darfur. The RSF’s capture of El Fasher has left civilians confronting acute food shortages, displacement and widespread allegations of abuse.
Nadir Yousif Eltayeb, Sudan’s ambassador to Türkiye, said Tuesday that the international community had failed to respond impartially to the conflict and had not done enough to relieve civilian suffering.
Speaking at a Sudan-focused meeting held by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, known as SETA, in Ankara, Eltayeb said El Fasher had been under a complete siege for roughly 30 months. Residents, he said, survived on limited supplies delivered by air.
“About 1 million people were surviving on aid delivered by the armed forces by air. People could not access enough food, to the point that they had to eat tree bark,” he said.
Eltayeb said Sudanese government forces had tried more than 200 times to break the siege but had been unable to reopen access to the city.
“The international community has taken a biased approach to this issue, preventing it from being resolved,” he said.
The RSF seized El Fasher, the North Darfur capital, on Oct. 26, 2025, following about 18 months of fighting and a siege that began in May 2024. It was the last major city in Darfur still held by the Sudanese army.
Eltayeb accused foreign governments of backing the RSF, saying the group could not have made its advances without external assistance. He also alleged that armed groups had intentionally targeted specific tribes in El Fasher.
“What happened in El Fasher is genocide,” he said.
He said the total number of people killed in El Fasher and across the wider Darfur region was still unknown.
Eltayeb also alleged that pressure from the United Arab Emirates had stopped Sudan from submitting accounts of the killings to the U.N. Security Council. He accused Abu Dhabi of supporting armed groups involved in the war, while acknowledging that the allegations had not been proven.
The UAE has repeatedly rejected claims that it supports the RSF.
“We are seeking justice for Sudan,” Eltayeb said, while expressing gratitude for Türkiye’s support.
Severe shortages after RSF takeover
The fall of El Fasher reshaped the balance of the conflict, but continuing violence and the collapse of basic services have left those still in the city in desperate conditions.
The U.N. Human Rights Office said more than 6,000 people were killed in the first three days after the RSF took control. Later reports documented killings, forced displacement, torture and sexual violence against civilians.
The United Nations has warned that abuses against civilians, including women and children, have persisted, citing reports of executions and sexual violence.
The RSF takeover also prompted a mass flight from the city. Humanitarian assessment figures show that about 138,200 people were displaced from El Fasher and nearby settlements between Oct. 26, 2025, and March 1, 2026.
El Fasher had a population of more than 1 million before the war. Its population is now believed to be below 70,000.
Residents who remain face ongoing insecurity and sharply limited access to food, health care and other basic services. The departure of tens of thousands of people has placed additional pressure on already overstretched humanitarian operations throughout Darfur.
