Sudan RSF strike kills 30 women and children, witnesses say

A drone strike that an official and eyewitnesses attributed to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed 26 women and four children on Friday in Blue Nile state, near the southeastern border with Ethiopia.

A person involved in burials at a displacement camp in Abu Shendi told AFP that survivors buried 26 women and four children after the strike. Another eyewitness said the victims included young girls who worked with their families refining gold.

The drone hit just outside the camp near an informal gold mining site, where women earn daily wages clearing gold nuggets from earth extracted by men.

Mahgoub al-Sheikh, the governor of Wad al-Mahi where the attack took place, said the drone was launched from “inside Ethiopia.” Sudan has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of harbouring RSF fighters and bases. Ethiopia has denied the accusations.

The border region with Ethiopia has become the latest frontline in Sudan’s war between the regular army and the RSF. The RSF has pushed an offensive this year approaching the Blue Nile state capital, El-Damazin.

Since the war began in April 2023, it has killed more than 200,000 people, aid workers estimate, and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises. UN figures say nearly 100,000 people have been displaced across Blue Nile state this year.

The conflict has increasingly involved armed drones. UN figures say more than 1,100 people were killed by drone strikes in Sudan during the first five months of this year.