RSF Drones Hit Five Sudan Power Stations, Then Knock Out Khartoum Supply

Drone strikes blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces hit five electricity substations in southeastern Sudan on Monday, October 26, 2026, and then hit a transformer station on Tuesday that cut power across large parts of Khartoum and Al-Jazira states. The Sudan Electricity Holding Company said the Monday strikes knocked out the southeastern network and put the wider national grid at risk.

The five substations hit on Monday were Singa, Al Hawata, Al Fao, Mashkour and Al Junaid. The company said the strikes cut electricity in Sennar, Gedaref, White Nile and Gezira states.

What officials said about the Monday strikes

A government official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said the drones struck two stations each in Gezira and Gedaref and one in White Nile. The official said all of those states are held by the Sudanese army. An AFP correspondent in Gezira said electricity had been out there since about 2 a.m.

According to the Sennar state government, the attack on the Singa substation caused material damage and injured members of the facility guard team. No figure for the number of injured guards was given in the reports cited here.

Reuters reported that it could not independently confirm the electricity operator's account of the Monday strikes. The RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters said. The strikes are therefore reported here as the operator and officials described them, with that limit stated plainly.

A second strike cuts Khartoum on Tuesday

On Tuesday, October 27, a source at Sudan's national electricity company told AFP that RSF drones struck the Al-Markhiyat transformer station. The source said the strike cut power across large parts of Khartoum and Al-Jazira states.

The two days of strikes widened the outage from the southeast to the capital region. The company had already warned on Monday that damage to the southeastern substations put the wider national grid at risk, before the Al-Markhiyat station was hit.

Repairs begin, with no return time given

Engineering and technical crews were sent to the affected substations to survey the damage and start repairs. The electricity company promised to restore supply as quickly as possible. It did not give a time for power to return in the reports cited here.

For families in the cut areas, the wait carries a direct risk. Babiker Youssef, a resident of Al Fao in Gedaref whose diabetic son relies on insulin that must be kept refrigerated, told AFP: "We have no idea when the power will come back."

The United Nations says attacks on power infrastructure are worsening the humanitarian crisis in Sudan by disrupting hospitals, water supplies and other essential services. That warning matches the pattern in this case, where a grid attack left four states without power on Monday and then large parts of Khartoum and Al-Jazira without power on Tuesday.