160 people reported killed in escalating drone attacks across Sudan

Rights groups warn increasing attacks by unmanned aircraft are targeting civilians and infrastructure.

A wave of drone attacks across Sudan has killed more than 160 people in recent days, according to medics and rights groups.

Drone attacks on Khartoum killed three children on Monday, according to Emergency Lawyers, a group that monitors violence against civilians in Sudan’s civil war, while more than 160 were reported to have been killed in western regions since Friday.

The attacks were blamed on both the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and government forces, They have been fighting since 2023, but the increasing use of drones in recent months has caused growing numbers of civilian casualties.

The deadliest recent attack was near a market on Sunday evening in Al-Dibab town in the southwestern state of West Kordofan, which is controlled by the RSF. Residents and medical workers said a drone attacked a transport hub where villagers had gathered after a market day to find rides home, killing 80 people.

Another 47 wounded people were taken to the nearby town of Al-Mujlad, where 30 later died from their injuries, a medical source said, according to the AFP news agency.

The RSF’s self-declared administration, known as Tasis, and Emergency Lawyers accused the army of carrying out the attack.

Dams attack

In eastern Sudan, a military source said on Sunday that air defences intercepted several RSF drones targeting the Atbara and Setit dams in Gadaref state, about 420km east of Khartoum. There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

Early on Monday, another drone attack 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.

At least 59,000 killed

The current war in Sudan began in April 2023 when the military leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, fell out over plans to fold the paramilitary into Sudan’s army.

In June, Hemedti was sentenced to death in his absence for war crimes.

However, the fighting, now in its fourth year, continues and has killed at least 59,000 people, according to conflict monitor ACLED. Aid groups say the actual toll is likely higher.

The UN 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. An estimated 825,000 children face severe, acute malnutrition, according to the UN.

The United States on Friday 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.