Drone strike near courthouse in central Sudan kills 13
A drone strike blamed on Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed 13 people outside a courthouse in the army-held central town of Umm Rawaba on Tuesday, a medical source and witnesses told AFP.
The attack is the latest in an escalating wave of drone attacks by both the RSF and the Sudanese army, which have been at war since April 2023.
"There are now 13 killed and 22 injured being treated at the hospital," a medical source at the local hospital told AFP, revising an earlier toll of 12 after one more person succumbed to their injuries.
The strike hit a crowded area outside the courthouse in North Kordofan, where residents had gathered to complete legal and administrative procedures.
"I was near the courthouse when I saw the drone hit a tree outside the building," one witness told AFP, adding that the area was crowded with people at the time.
Another witness said residents rushed to help those caught in the blast.
"After the drone hit, we tried to save people, but some died at the scene," he said. "The sound of the explosion was very loud."
Umm Rawaba, which lies along a strategic route linking central and western Sudan, has remained under army control despite repeated attacks in the surrounding region.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF.
- Military build-up -
Drone strikes, deployed en masse by both sides, killed more than 1,100 people this year, according to UN figures.
Since the war broke out, more than 200,000 people have been killed, aid workers estimate, while millions more have been displaced in the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.
Attempts at diplomacy have floundered as fighting escalates on several fronts across Africa's third-largest country.
Kordofan has been a strategically important battleground, linking army-controlled areas in central Sudan with the vast western region of Darfur, where the RSF consolidated power last year.
On the southeastern border with Ethiopia, RSF attacks have displaced hundreds of thousands of people as they press an offensive through the Blue Nile state.
Military sources told AFP the RSF had expanded its presence along the frontier in recent weeks, raising concerns that the conflict could spill into new areas and further destabilise an already volatile region.
The UN has repeatedly warned against the growing use of drones and other advanced weapons, pointing to thriving supply lines through Sudan's borders.
The United Arab Emirates is most commonly accused of fueling the war by backing the RSF through Sudan's neighbours, which it denies. RSF supply lines have been tracked through Sudan's borders with Libya, Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia.
Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have stood in the army's corner, with reports of Egyptian-Turkish military and strategic support.
This week, a United Nations fact-finding mission warned that outside support was enhancing the military capabilities of both sides and enabling increasingly advanced operations, often with severe consequences for civilians.
"Protecting Sudan's civilians requires action not only against those fighting the war, but also against the individuals, entities and networks that enable it to continue," said the mission's chairman Mohamad Chande Othman.
The UN warning coincided with a US call for the United Nations Security Council to expand an arms embargo currently focused on Darfur to cover all of Sudan.
ab-maf/bha/dcp
