Death toll rises to 59 in drone strikes on market, displacement shelter in Sudan’s Kordofan

By Lina Altawell

ISTANBUL (AA) – The death toll from drone strikes targeting a shelter and marketplace in the Kordofan region in southern Sudan has risen to 59 people, Sudanese media reported on Thursday.

An airstrike hit a veterinary unit building where displaced civilians had sheltered in the city of Al-Sunut in West Kordofan on Monday.

The local daily Al-Rakoba, citing medical sources, said at least 28 people were killed in the attack, including women and children, while several injured people remained in critical condition.

Another drone strike targeted a market in the Al-Safiya area northeast of Sudari locality in North Kordofan on the same day, killing 31 people and injuring dozens, the sources said.

In a statement, the non-governmental Emergency Lawyers group denounced attacks on markets and civilian facilities as “a violation of international humanitarian law,” calling on Sudan’s warring parties to protect civilians and de-escalate the fighting.

The party behind the drone strikes was not yet clear.

Sudan has been locked in a bloody conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, killing tens of thousands, displacing about 13 million people, and creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to UN reports.