Drone Strikes Across Sudan Kill More Than 100, Including 80 Near a Market in West Kordofan

More than 100 people have been killed in drone strikes across Sudan since Sunday, in attacks that hit a market town in West Kordofan, the Darfur city of Nyala and a house in the capital Khartoum, according to residents, medical workers and paramilitary sources who spoke to Agence France-Presse.

The deadliest strike hit Al-Dibab, a town in West Kordofan in southwestern Sudan, on Sunday evening, October 18. A drone struck a transport hub where villagers had gathered after market day to find rides home. The drone hit once, then came back about 10 minutes later and struck again, resident Ahmed Abakar Wadi told AFP. Wadi said he helped bury at least 50 victims, including his own brother. A medical source said 47 wounded people were taken to the nearby town of Al-Mujlad, where 30 later died from their injuries, bringing the toll in Al-Dibab to 80.

West Kordofan is controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, which has been at war with Sudan's military since April 2023. The RSF's self-declared administration, known as Tasis, and the Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers accused the army of carrying out the Al-Dibab attack. The military has not commented, and who carried out the strike has not been independently confirmed.

Nyala and Khartoum hit on Monday

Hours after the Al-Dibab strike, early on Monday, a drone attack hit Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and an RSF stronghold. Medical and RSF sources said 17 people, including seven RSF officers, were killed and 23 wounded when a drone struck the city centre and destroyed two homes. On Friday, a drone strike on a cattle market in Nyala had already killed 30 people and injured 47, according to a medical source.

On Monday morning, a drone hit a house in a neighbourhood east of Khartoum airport, killing four people, including three children aged between two and six, a medical source said. An army official said Sudanese air defences had intercepted drones launched by the RSF that were targeting the airport and nearby areas. On Sunday, a military source said air defences had also intercepted several RSF drones targeting the Atbara and Setit dams in Gadaref state, about 420 kilometres east of Khartoum.

The UN condemns the wave of strikes

The United Nations condemned the strikes on Monday. "We are alarmed by the continued deadly drone strikes across the country that are killing civilians, including children, and that are disrupting essential services," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told journalists in New York. He said drone strikes on Monday injured at least 19 people in a busy market in Abyei and hit several locations in Khartoum, including an area near the airport, where one civilian was reportedly killed and some flights were cancelled.

The UN said 20 million people in Sudan face acute hunger, with a rising risk of famine in parts of Darfur and Greater Kordofan, and that Sudan's humanitarian response plan is just over 43 percent funded. More than 1,100 people were killed in drone attacks across Sudan during the first half of this year alone, according to the UN. Aid workers estimate the war has killed more than 200,000 people in total. Kordofan, an oil-rich region linking western and eastern Sudan, has come under repeated drone attacks in recent months as the army tries to roll back RSF gains.