In brief
The Sudanese army is blamed for a series of drone strikes that have killed over 200 civilians, including mourners on a funeral convoy. A drone hit a trailer carrying 200 mourners in Al‑Dabab, West Kordofan, killing 145 people and injuring more than 150. The army also bombed a market in Al‑Mujlad and a fuel market in Abyei, where 73 civilians were killed. The strikes have intensified the humanitarian crisis, with the UN warning of famine in the region.
The Sudanese civil war, which began in 2023, has taken a deadly turn as the army is accused of launching a string of drone attacks that have killed more than 200 civilians, including those on a funeral convoy.
On Sunday evening, a drone struck a trailer carrying approximately 200 mourners en route to a funeral in Al‑Dabab, West Kordofan. According to the Sudan War Observatory, the strike killed 145 people and injured an additional 150.
That same night a separate drone attack targeted a market in Al‑Mujlad. The army has denied responsibility for these strikes, asserting it did not intend to hit civilians and claiming that any presence of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters among civilians would justify the attacks.
The following day, a drone hit a fuel‑market in Abyei, the disputed border area between Sudan and South Sudan. The Abyei information minister confirmed that 73 people were killed, and the market was reportedly used to supply fuel to RSF fighters.
The attacks have inflamed tensions between Sudan and South Sudan, with the latter summoning Sudan’s ambassador to lodge a formal protest. There are fears the conflict could spill across the border as both countries claim sovereignty over the oil‑rich Abyei region.
The war has already produced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing more than 14 million people. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric warned that “continued deadly drone strikes” are disrupting essential services and killing civilians, including children.
The rise in drone use comes amid a partial arms embargo on Sudan, yet the country and the RSF continue to receive drones from foreign suppliers, making the unmanned aircraft the weapon of choice in the brutal conflict.
As the war rages, Médecins Sans Frontières reports that over 20 patients have been treated for burns and other injuries at Ameth Bek Hospital, while the city of Khartoum also experienced drone strikes, killing at least four people, including three children, in a nearby airfield.
