The UN Human Rights Office said on October 23 that drone strikes attributed to Sudan’s armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed at least 306 people and injured hundreds across Sudan in the first three weeks of October, hitting civilian sites and important infrastructure.
The attacks were attributed to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and were reported in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum and other states. The UN said targets included homes, markets, hospitals, shelters for displaced people, power stations and water sources. Between October 6 and 10, strikes allegedly carried out by the SAF on shelters in Ghubeish and El Nuhud in West Kordofan killed at least 25 people and injured 31.
In Blue Nile, an alleged RSF drone strike near Abu Shendi killed at least 31 displaced people on October 9. Most of them were women and children. A strike on a transport truck in Dibab, West Kordofan, killed at least 139 people on October 18, the UN said.
The UN also reported that alleged RSF strikes on a gold-mining area in South Kordofan killed 42 civilians. It reported 23 deaths in attacks on markets in three states. A strike on Um Darfa hospital in Blue Nile injured two health workers.
The strike left the facility unable to operate. UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned that drone attacks were making Sudan’s humanitarian crisis worse. He called on both sides to follow their duties under international humanitarian law, including not targeting civilians and civilian sites.