Sudanese army drone strikes kill more than 300, including mourners

A drone strike blamed on Sudan’s army killed dozens of people at a market in Abyei, a region disputed between Sudan and South Sudan, in one of the deadliest attacks of a war that has spilled across Sudan’s borders.

Authorities in Abyei said the strike hit Amiet market on Monday, killing 53 people and wounding at least 27, Dawn reported, citing AFP. A South Sudanese official later told Reuters the toll had jumped to 153, The Express Tribune reported.

They accused the army of firing 22 munitions at the market.

Mourners hit in West Kordofan

The Abyei strike came a day after a wave of drone attacks in neighbouring West Kordofan. In all, the strikes killed more than 300 people, the BBC reported.

• Al-Dabab: a truck carrying around 200 mourners was hit as it arrived for a funeral; 145 people were killed, and five more died when a funeral tent was struck, the Sudan War Observatory said
• Al-Mujlad: army drones also bombed a market; the toll is not yet known
• The army: a military source told the BBC the army carried out the Abyei attack, calling the market a fuel supply site for the RSF; the army says it does not attack civilians

“The market was completely destroyed. The bombing spread terror and fear among the local population,” market trader Fadlallah Adam Hamouda told BBC Arabic. UN peacekeepers have been in Abyei since 2011, with more than 2,800 uniformed personnel deployed.

“Vulnerable civilian populations”

“The casualties comprise vulnerable civilian populations, including women, children, the elderly, local merchants, members of the host Ngok Dinka community, South Sudanese returnees, and Sudanese refugees who had sought sanctuary from the broader regional conflict,” the Abyei authorities said.

The United Nations condemned the attack, saying at least 28 civilians had been confirmed killed at Amiet market, with many injured and many unaccounted for. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric called the escalating drone strikes “part of a deeply concerning pattern”.

Conflicting tolls

• Abyei authorities: 53 killed and at least 27 wounded
• South Sudan: Yohana Akol Ngor, Abyei’s caretaker information minister, said the toll rose to 153 from 73; he blamed Sudan’s army without giving evidence
• The UN: at least 28 civilians confirmed killed

A spokesperson for Sudan’s armed forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Three diplomatic sources, an aid worker and an expert on the conflict told Reuters the strike hit a fuel depot in the market, which diplomats said had been used in the past by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to supply its forces. South Sudan’s foreign ministry said the market is a transit point for goods to RSF-held areas, and summoned Sudan’s ambassador over the attack.

A war without borders

Strikes across Sudan killed more than 100 people on Sunday and Monday. The country has been gripped since April 2023 by a brutal war between the regular army and the RSF, which has caused a major humanitarian crisis and drawn in local militias and foreign powers.

Abyei is claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, which split from its northern neighbour in 2011 after decades of conflict. Parts of the district are controlled by a faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

Why it matters

Drones have made Sudan’s war deadlier for civilians, and markets packed with refugees and traders are now among the targets. Every new strike makes it harder for aid to reach a population already facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Read our report on the Houthi strike on a Yemen training camp.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn, The Express Tribune, the BBC, AFP and Reuters.