A wave of drone attacks across Sudan has killed more than 160 people in recent days, according to medics and rights groups. Drone strikes on Khartoum on Monday killed three children, while over 160 people have been reported dead in western regions since Friday. Both the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and government forces are blamed for the attacks, which have intensified as drones become a more common weapon in the ongoing civil war that began in 2023.
The deadliest recent strike occurred near a market on Sunday evening in Al‑Dibab town in the southwestern state of West Kordofan, a RSF‑controlled area. Residents and medical workers said a drone hit a transport hub where villagers had gathered after market day, killing 80 people. An additional 47 wounded were taken to the nearby town of Al‑Mujlad, where 30 later died from their injuries, a medical source said, according to AFP.
RSF officials and Emergency Lawyers, a group that monitors violence against civilians, accused the army of carrying out the attack. In eastern Sudan, a military source said air defences intercepted several RSF drones targeting the Atbara and Setit dams in Gadaref state, about 420 km east of Khartoum. There was no immediate comment from the RSF.
Early on Monday, another drone strike hit the RSF stronghold of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. Medical and RSF sources said 17 people, including seven RSF officers, were killed and 23 wounded. An RSF drone attack on Friday hit a gathering of displaced people in Sudan’s Blue Nile province on the border with Ethiopia, killing 41 people, Emergency Lawyers said. The group condemned the attack, calling it a humanitarian tragedy.
The United Nations condemned the deadly attacks on Monday. “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.
The current war, which began in April 2023 when military leader Abdel Fattah al‑Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) clashed over plans to fold the paramilitary into the army, has now entered its fourth year. Conflict monitor ACLED reports at least 59,000 deaths, while aid groups say the actual toll is likely higher. The United Nations says about 13 million people have been forced from their homes, creating what aid groups call the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Across Sudan, 33.7 million people, including 17.3 million children, urgently need food support this year, and an estimated 825,000 children face severe acute malnutrition, the UN reports.
The United States urged the UN Security Council to push for a humanitarian truce and expand an arms embargo on Sudan, but China and Russia opposed widening the embargo. The escalating drone attacks underscore the urgent need for a comprehensive ceasefire and humanitarian access to alleviate the suffering of Sudan’s civilian population.
