Children among dozens killed in drone strike on Sudan hospital

Telegraph

24-06-2025

More than 40 people including children and health care workers were killed in a weekend attack on a hospital in Sudan, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there had been an 'appalling' attack on the Al Mujlad Hospital in West Kordofan, near the front line between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The WHO director general did not say who was responsible but Emergency Lawyers, a human rights group, had earlier accused the army of striking the hospital with a drone.
He said: 'We cannot say this louder: attacks on health must stop everywhere!'
Both sides in the war have been accused of indiscriminate barrages and strikes that have killed civilians.
The WHO Sudan office said that six children and five medics were killed in the attack, reporting extensive damage to the facility.
Tens of thousands have been killed since the war broke out more than two years ago, though the destruction of the health system means the true toll is unknown.
Millions more have fled their homes and the country is gripped by the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The army led by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, ousted the RSF militia, led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, from the capital in March, but elsewhere the fighting continues.
Analysts predict neither side is strong enough to gain a decisive advantage.
The central Kordofan region, where the hospital was hit, has been the site of recent heavy fighting.
Volker Turk, the United Nations' rights chief, warned on Friday of 'the disastrous consequences stemming from ongoing and escalating hostilities' in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, 'where civilian casualties, sexual violence, abductions and looting have been reported in multiple areas'.
'The recent fighting and grave risk of further aggravation in an already brutal and deadly conflict raise severe protection concerns, amid a pervasive culture of impunity for human rights violations.'
Mr Turk said civilians were 'trapped' in Dibeibat town in South Kordofan state as the warring sides fight to capture it, while the army-held city of El-Obeid in North Kordofan was 'reportedly surrounded' by paramilitary forces.
The UN's International Organization for Migration last week said more than 16,000 people had been displaced from areas hit by violence, including South Kordofan and Darfur.