Drone strikes in Sudan kill 33

KHARTOUM:

Drone strikes on markets in paramilitary-controlled towns in the Kordofan region killed 33 people Sunday, while a strike in Darfur resulted in a raging oil fire, sources told AFP.

Two of the attacks were on small towns in West Kordofan state — part of the resource-rich Kordofan region, currently the fiercest battlefront in the nearly three-year war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In RSF-controlled Abu Zabad and Wad Banda, a combined 33 people were killed and 59 injured, according to a doctor at Abu Zabad hospital, where the victims were brought.

Using a satellite internet connection to circumvent a communications blackout, Abu Zabad resident Hamad Abdullah said he helped bury 20 people.

"Four of them were my relatives who worked in the market," he told AFP, blaming the army for the strike.

A military source denied the accusations, telling AFP that the "armed forces do not bombard civilian areas".

Since war broke out in April 2023, both sides have been accused of war crimes including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.

Air strikes by the army, carried out first by fighter jets and then drones, have killed dozens of civilians at a time.