KHARTOUM: Drone strikes on the strategic Sudanese city of El-Obeid killed 23 people, a rights group and witnesses said on Thursday, in one of the deadliest aerial attacks the city has seen since the war began.
Drone warfare has become an increasingly prominent feature of Sudan´s conflict, which erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“It is tragic. The roofs of houses collapsed on their occupants,” a resident of the Al-Matar neighbourhood in the city´s east said, describing the aftermath of the strikes.
“When you look at some houses, you feel no one could have survived,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
Another resident of the Al-Qubba neighbourhood in the city centre said his cousin was among those killed and that he had seen more than seven bodies brought to a local hospital.
A medical source told AFP that two children and a woman believed to be their mother were among those killed.
The Emergency Lawyers group, which has been documenting abuses throughout the war, said the attack on the key hub in the southern Kordofan region began on Wednesday evening and continued into Thursday, striking residential areas, a funeral gathering and a truck carrying food supplies.
At least 19 other people were wounded, according to the group, which blamed the attacks on the RSF. The claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from the paramilitary force.
El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, has been partially encircled for months by paramilitary forces and sits along a key route linking RSF-held areas in Darfur to army-controlled regions in the east.
According to the Emergency Lawyers, five civilians were killed and 12 wounded in the initial strikes. A subsequent attack targeted mourners gathered at a cemetery, killing four people and injuring seven others. Further strikes hit homes in the Al-Muwazafin and Al-Matar neighbourhoods on the eastern edge of the city, as well as areas around the headquarters of the Fifth Infantry Division in the city centre. Thirteen civilians were killed as they gathered near damaged houses, the group said.
