Drone strikes on vehicles in Sudan’s North Kordofan state killed 15 civilians, including five women, in two areas controlled by the paramilitary forces, a rights group said on Tuesday.
The attacks come as the southern Kordofan region has seen some of the deadliest fighting in recent weeks between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which have been at war since April 2023.
The violence also coincides with what residents and aid groups describe as the fiercest RSF assault yet on El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, where the paramilitary group has been carrying out near-daily drone attacks on the strategic city.
The Emergency Lawyers, which has documented abuses throughout the conflict, said one of the vehicles was carrying wedding guests when it was struck on Monday, while the second was transporting water when it came under attack early Tuesday.
The group did not specify who was behind the attacks.
The claims could not be independently verified and neither the Sudanese military nor the RSF immediately commented.
Both locations are situated north of El-Obeid, which sits on a key route linking RSF-controlled areas in the western Darfur region with army-held territory in eastern Sudan.
In recent weeks, the United Nations has warned that atrocities similar to those committed during the RSF’s assault on the Darfur city of El-Fasher in October last year could be repeated in El-Obeid.
Earlier this year, a UN independent fact-finding mission concluded that the siege and capture of El-Fasher bore “the hallmarks of genocide”.
On Monday, the UN Human Rights Council ordered an urgent inquiry into alleged violations and abuses in El-Obeid, warning of a growing risk of “large-scale atrocities”.
Now in its fourth year, the conflict in Sudan has already killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million and created the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
Last year, famine was declared in El-Fasher and in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, while 20 additional areas across Darfur and Kordofan were identified as being at risk.
(AFP)
