KHARTOUM, Sudan
A Sudanese rights group accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Thursday of killing 23 civilians and injuring 19 in drone attacks in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State in southern Sudan, for a second consecutive day.
The non-governmental Emergency Lawyers group said RSF drones targeted the state capital late Wednesday, with attacks continuing into Thursday.
The group said the first attack killed five civilians and injured 12. A subsequent strike targeted a gathering at the Dalil Cemetery during a funeral for the victims, killing four civilians and injuring seven more.
Thursday’s attacks targeted homes in the Al-Muwazzafeen and Al-Matar neighborhoods, as well as areas surrounding the Sudanese army’s 5th Infantry Division headquarters, killing 13 civilians who gathered near damaged houses, it said.
A separate attack targeted a truck carrying food supplies at the southern entrance to the city, killing the driver, it added.
Emergency Lawyers said the attacks reflected “a pattern of large-scale targeting” of civilian gatherings, residential neighborhoods and civilian objects, including during rescue operations and funeral processions, raising serious concerns about the failure to distinguish between civilian and military targets, and disregard for the principles of military necessity.
The group held the RSF “fully responsible” for the attacks, saying the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure amounted to serious violations of international humanitarian law.
Neither the RSF nor Sudanese authorities have commented on the allegations.
On May 12, the UN warned of escalating drone attacks in the Kordofan region, saying strikes had killed at least 880 civilians between January and April.
Three Kordofan states — North, West and South Kordofan — have witnessed intense fighting between the army and the RSF since October 25.
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the army and the RSF regarding plans to integrate the paramilitary force into the military. The war has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, killing tens of thousands and displacing nearly 13 million.
