At least 40 people have been killed in a deadly drone strike that hit mourners at a funeral in al-Luweib village, near the army-controlled city of El-Obeid in Sudan’s North Kordofan state. Officials and activists have blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the attack, which took place on Monday. The RSF has not yet issued a statement regarding the incident.
The mourners were gathered in a tent when drones struck, leaving dozens dead and many others seriously wounded. Most victims reportedly died before reaching hospitals in El-Obeid, a key strategic city linking the capital, Khartoum, to the conflict-ravaged Darfur region.
The attack comes amid intensifying fighting in Kordofan, where about 20,000 people fled to El-Obeid last week after the RSF seized control of Bara town, located 30 kilometers north of the city. The fall of Bara coincided with the RSF’s capture of El-Fasher, previously the army’s last stronghold in Darfur.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have reported mass killings, sexual violence, abductions, and looting in El-Fasher since the RSF takeover. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has warned that these atrocities could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The RSF leader, Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, has pledged to investigate alleged “violations,” though his forces deny that the attacks are ethnically motivated. Meanwhile, famine and humanitarian catastrophe continue to worsen in Sudan.
The UN-accredited Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that residents in El-Fasher are suffering from famine due to the RSF’s 18-month siege of the city. Kadugli, in South Kordofan, is also facing catastrophic levels of hunger after being surrounded and cut off from aid.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the escalating violence, warning that Sudan’s crisis is “spiralling out of control.” Speaking in Doha, he urged both the Sudanese army and RSF to agree to a ceasefire and return to peace negotiations.
Washington and other international partners have proposed a humanitarian truce, but previous peace talks in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have failed to secure a lasting agreement.
North Kordofan’s humanitarian aid commissioner, Mohamed Ismail, confirmed to local media that “drones belonging to the Rapid Support Forces militia attacked citizens who were at a funeral, resulting in the death of 40 people and the injury of dozens.”
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