Sudan drone strike kills 11 in central market as aerial attacks intensify
Emergency Lawyers reports at least 11 deaths and dozens injured in Abu Zaeima, marking the latest in a series of unattributed drone strikes that have killed nearly 70 people in the region over the past week.
A drone strike on the main market in Abu Zaeima, a town in North Kordofan state, has killed at least 11 people and injured dozens more, according to the local rights group Emergency Lawyers. The attack, which occurred on Saturday, targeted a civilian area in a region where aerial warfare has become increasingly common in the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The rights group, which has documented abuses since fighting erupted in April 2023, stated that casualty figures could rise. Neither the Sudanese army nor the RSF has claimed responsibility for the strike. Emergency Lawyers noted that the attack came less than 24 hours after similar drone strikes hit nearby villages and a civilian vehicle in the region, highlighting a pattern of escalating aerial violence.
Condemning the incident, Emergency Lawyers described the repeated targeting of civilians, villages, and public transport as a blatant disregard for human life and the basic principles of international humanitarian law. The group called for an end to such attacks and demanded accountability for those responsible, urging that the continued loss of civilian life should not be treated as routine.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency that another drone hit a fuel station later on Saturday in el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan. The town has been partially encircled by the RSF for months. A medical source at a hospital in el-Obeid confirmed that four wounded civilians had been brought to the facility following the strike.
The violence in North Kordofan is part of a broader intensification of fighting in the region. Nearly 70 people were killed in two separate drone strikes in West and North Kordofan states over the past week, according to Emergency Lawyers and a local leader. The United Nations reported in May that at least 880 civilians were killed in drone strikes nationwide between January and April 2026.
Fighting has intensified in Kordofan and Blue Nile State since the RSF captured el-Fasher, the military’s last major stronghold in western Darfur, last October. Kordofan is strategically significant due to its oil and arable land, linking RSF strongholds in Darfur to army-controlled areas in the east. The region remains largely contested between the two warring factions.
Since the capture of el-Fasher, more than 300,000 people have fled front-line areas, including parts of Kordofan and Blue Nile, according to the UN. The war, now in its fourth year, has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 13 million others, creating what the UN describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
