At least 24 displaced people, including eight children, were killed in a drone strike carried out by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in central Sudan, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, as reported by Al Jazeera.
The attack occurred on Saturday near the town of Rahad in North Kordofan state. The victims were traveling in a vehicle while fleeing fighting in the Deweibika area, the medical network said. In a post on X, the group added that two of the children killed were newborns.
The strike came just a day after a series of drone attacks hit a World Food Programme (WFP) humanitarian convoy and accompanying fuel trucks in North Kordofan, leaving at least one person dead and injuring several others.
North Kordofan’s state government condemned the assault on the WFP convoy and urged the international community and the United Nations to impose sanctions on RSF leadership.
Both incidents occurred along the key route connecting the state capital El-Obeid with Kosti, a major city in the neighboring White Nile state. A UN official said the WFP convoy had departed from Kosti with life-saving food supplies for displaced people stranded near El-Obeid when it came under attack.
Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF for nearly three years. Fighting intensified in the Kordofan region after the fall of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to the RSF in October last year.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced nearly 11 million people, according to humanitarian agencies. Large parts of the country are suffering from severe food insecurity as the war continues to devastate supply chains and restrict aid access.