KHARTOUM – Sudan’s army has been accused of launching several drone strikes that have reportedly killed more than 300 people, including dozens travelling to a funeral. The death toll from strikes in two areas of West Kordofan state on Sunday evening was 150, sources told the Sudan War Observatory, which tracks the conflict that erupted in 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In Abyei, a disputed border area between Sudan and South Sudan, 153 people were killed when drones hit a market on Monday, the region’s information minister said.
A military source told the BBC the army had carried out the Abyei attack, saying the market was a fuel supply site for the RSF.
The attack has raised tensions between South Sudan and Sudan, which jointly administer Abyei, as they both claim ownership to the oil-rich region in a dispute that has remained unresolved since South Sudan ceded in 2011.
South Sudan has summoned Sudan’s ambassador to lodge a formal protest. There are fears the conflict could spill across the border.
Despite a partial arms embargo on Sudan, foreign countries have been supplying both the army and the RSF with drones and they are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice in the conflict.
The war has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced more than 14 million from their homes.
“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 Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday.
The rising use of armed drones came as 20 million people faced acute hunger, with a rising risk of famine in parts of the western region of Darfur and Greater Kordofan, he said.
Greater Kordofan comprises three states and is a vital axis linking Darfur, controlled by the RSF, to the capital, Khartoum, now in army hands.
The wave of drone attacks started on Sunday evening and, according to the Sudan War Observatory, it is likely they were launched from the army-held city of Kadugli in South Kordofan state.
A truck carrying around 200 mourners which had travelled from an area north of Abyei was hit as it arrived in the town of Al-Dabab in West Kordofan, the monitoring group said.
Sources told the group that 145 people were killed and a tent where mourners at the funeral had gathered was also hit, killing five others. A further 150 people were injured in the attacks, it said.
Army drones also bombed a market in the town of Al-Mujlad in West Kordofan on the same evening, according to the Sudan War Observatory, which said the exact number of deaths and injuries were not yet known.
Sudan’s army has not responded to the allegation it carried out these strikes, but said it did not attack civilians even if they believed there were RSF fighters amongst them.
The attack in Abyei, which borders West Kordofan, took place on Monday around 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT) targeting Amiet Market around 10km (six miles) from Abyei town, the region’s Information Minister Yohana Akol Ngor told Radio Tamazuj, which broadcasts from the Netherlands to audiences on the Sudan-South Sudan border.
On Tuesday, the minister confirmed to the Associated Press and Reuters that the death toll had risen from 73 to 153 people.
“It is a horrible and shocking situation,” AP quotes him as saying.
BBC Verify has studied satellite images that show extensive burnt buildings in the north-east corner of Amiet Market, which is also known in Arabic as Al-Na’am Market. Older images from the area show it is usually full of trucks.
It has also verified footage filmed near the market that shows a large plume of smoke, at least one petrol tanker and someone talking about five missiles being fired. Another verified video shows two massive, separate fires coming from buildings near that section of the market.
Man charged with attack on Australian MP as suspect’s father says she is family friend
A 43-year-old man has been charged after Australian MP Helen Haines was hit by a car in the state of Victoria on Monday.
The suspect will appear in court on Wednesday to face charges of dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the federal offence of causing harm to a public official.
Local media earlier named the alleged attacker as environmental activist Brendan Nugent. His father and his partner said they had been friends with Haines “for more than 20 years” and thanked residents and officers who helped her after the “shocking and horrific crime”.
Haines remains in a critical condition after surgery and is reported to have lost one of her legs.
“Helen Haines is a deeply respected, valued and much loved member of our local community,” Rod Nugent and his partner Christine Cunningham said in a statement.
“All of our love and all of our thoughts are with Helen and her family and friends.”
They promised to assist Victoria Police “in any way we can”.
Police say they will allege the incident was targeted.
Haines, 65, the independent member for Indi, is in a critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery at a Melbourne hospital.
