Sudan army drones hit mourners and fuel market killing more than 200 people, sources say

Sudan army drones hit mourners and fuel market killing more than 200 people, sources say

Ameth Bek Hospital in Abyei town has been treating people wounded in Monday's attack on the market

Sudan's army has been accused of carrying out a series of drone strikes that reportedly killed more than 200 people, among them dozens who were on their way to a funeral.

Sources told the Sudan War Observatory, which monitors the conflict that broke out in 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), that the death toll from strikes in two parts of West Kordofan state on Sunday evening was 150.

In Abyei, a disputed border area between Sudan and South Sudan, 73 people were killed when drones struck a market on Monday, the region's information minister said.

A military source told the BBC that the army was responsible for the Abyei attack, saying the market served as a fuel supply point for the RSF.

The strike has heightened tensions between South Sudan and Sudan, which jointly govern Abyei, as both countries claim the oil-rich area in a dispute that has remained unresolved since South Sudan became independent in 2011.

South Sudan has called in Sudan's ambassador to file a formal protest. There are concerns the fighting could spread across the border.

Even with a partial arms embargo on Sudan, foreign states have been supplying both the army and the RSF with drones, and these are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice in the war.

The conflict has produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, killed hundreds of thousands of people, and driven 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

He said the growing use of armed drones came as 20 million people faced acute hunger, with an increasing risk of famine in parts of western Darfur and Greater Kordofan.

Greater Kordofan consists of three states and is a crucial corridor linking Darfur, which is controlled by the RSF, to the capital, Khartoum, now held by the army.

According to the Sudan War Observatory, the wave of drone attacks began on Sunday evening and was likely launched from the army-held city of Kadugli in South Kordofan state.

The monitoring group said a truck carrying about 200 mourners, who had come from an area north of Abyei, was hit as it reached the town of Al-Dabab in West Kordofan.

Sources told the group that 145 people were killed and that a tent where mourners had gathered for the funeral was also struck, killing five more. It said another 150 people were wounded in the attacks.

Army drones also bombed a market in the town of Al-Mujlad in West Kordofan that same evening, according to the Sudan War Observatory, which said the exact number of dead and injured was not yet known.

Sudan's army has not commented on the claim that it carried out the strikes, but has said it does not attack civilians even if it believes RSF fighters are among them.

The attack in Abyei, which borders West Kordofan, happened on Monday at about 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT) and killed 73 people, region's Information Minister Yohana Akol Ngor told Radio Tamazuj, which broadcasts from the Netherlands to audiences along the Sudan-South Sudan border.

"We were surprised by bombing and thick smoke inside Amiet Common Market, which is located 10km [six miles] from Abyei town," he said.

BBC Verify has examined satellite images showing extensive burned buildings in the north-east corner of Amiet Market, also known in Arabic as Al-Na'am Market. Older images from the area show it is usually crowded with trucks.

It has also verified footage taken near the market showing a large column of smoke, at least one petrol tanker and someone speaking about five missiles being fired. Another verified video shows two huge, separate fires coming from buildings near that part of the market.

Ngor told Reuters that emergency workers had struggled to recover the bodies because of fires caused by the strikes.

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said it had also received wounded people from the attack at Ameth Bek Hospital in Abyei town.

"So far we received over 20 patients, including several critical cases. Patients with burns were also admitted. We are providing surgical services and wound dressing, along with other emergency care," MSF's Christian Lindauer, the charity's manager at the hospital, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a drone strike near Khartoum airport on Monday killed four people, including three children, AFP news agency reports, citing a medical source.

It also quoted a military source as saying air defences in the Sudanese capital had shot down several other drones launched by the RSF toward the airport.

Fighting in Kordofan, a strategic region rich in gold and oil, has intensified over the past year after the army retook Khartoum from the RSF.