Sudanese Military Drone Strike on South Darfur Market Kills Over 100 People

More than 100 people were killed when a Sudanese military drone struck a busy market in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province, according to a rights group called Emergency Lawyers. The attack on Monday evening also left 113 people injured, with women and children making up many of the casualties. The rights group condemned the strike for turning a civilian marketplace into a scene of mass killing and called for an independent investigation. Medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders reported that 36 bodies arrived at its hospital in Nyala alongside 150 injured people in its emergency room. Nyala is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group locked in a civil war with the Sudanese army that began in April 2023.

Power Grid Hit

Separate from the market strike, a drone attack hit the Al-Markhiyat transformer station in Omdurman on the outskirts of Khartoum on Tuesday, cutting power to large parts of the capital for over 12 hours. The state-run Sudanese Electricity Distribution Company confirmed serious damage to the network and said power rationing will continue until repairs finish. An official blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for the station attack. The outage forced hospitals and bakeries to rely on generators and limited water supplies, while residents warned of spoiled insulin and rising bread prices.

Context

The conflict between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces has created a severe humanitarian emergency affecting millions of people across the country. Both sides have increasingly relied on drone warfare in recent months, frequently striking civilian areas and critical infrastructure like power grids and markets.