By Adel Abdelrheem and Rania Abu Shamala
KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL (AA) – Dozens of civilians were killed and wounded, including children and women, in a drone attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in North Kordofan in central Sudan, local authorities said Monday.
In a statement, the state government said a RSF drone struck a group of civilians in a funeral tent in the village of Al-Luweib, east of the provincial capital El-Obeid, causing the casualties.
It described the attack as “a new crime added to the RSF’s repeated atrocities against civilians,” saying several women, children and elderly people were among the victims, without giving an exact figure.
The state government appealed to the international community to immediately classify the RSF as a “terrorist organization,” accusing it of “committing ethnically and racially motivated crimes against unarmed civilians.”
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 38,000 people have fled North and South Kordofan due to worsening insecurity in the area since late October.
The RSF has recently taken control of the city of Bara in North Kordofan as part of its ongoing war with the Sudanese army, though it denies targeting civilians.
On Oct. 26, the RSF captured the city of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, and committed massacres against civilians, according to local and international organizations, amid warnings that the assault could entrench the geographical partition of Sudan.
Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.