In brief
A wave of drone strikes launched by Sudan’s army has left more than 200 people dead, including mourners traveling to a funeral and shoppers in a disputed market. The attacks, aimed at a fuel supply site and a convoy carrying condolences, have drawn fury from the United Nations and South Sudan, heightening a long‑standing border dispute. Médecins Sans Frontières reports severe injuries and burns at local hospitals, while the UN warns of a looming famine in already devastated regions. Both the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are increasingly using drones, despite an arms embargo, turning the conflict into a new type of aerial warfare.
Sudan’s army is accused of launching a series of drone strikes that left more than 200 people dead, including dozens who were traveling to mourn the death of a local leader.
The first strike hit a truck of mourners as it entered the town of Al-Dabab in West Kordofan on Sunday evening, killing 145 people and injuring 150 others, according to the Sudan War Observatory.
A second drone barrage struck a fuel‑supplied market in the contested Abyei region on Monday, killing 73 and igniting multiple buildings, a source in the region said.
“I was stunned when the market erupted in fire even though we had no weapons there,” said Yohana Akol Ngor, the Abyei information minister, who has called the attack a deliberate assault on civilians.
The attacks have raised the alarm of the United Nations and of South Sudan, which has summoned Sudan’s ambassador in protest, deepening a dispute that has overrun the oil‑rich territory since South Sudan’s independence in 2011.
Medical teams from Médecins Sans Frontières are treating survivors in Ameth Bek Hospital, describing the injuries as severe with burns and open wounds.
The Sudanese war, which began in 2023, now sees drones as the weapon of choice, with both the army and the Rapid Support Forces receiving them from foreign suppliers, despite an arms embargo.
The United Nations warns that the ongoing drone campaign threatens to spark famine and exacerbate a humanitarian crisis already affecting more than 14 million displaced people.
