Two killed in drone attack on central Sudan: medical source

Jordan Times

2 days ago

PORT SUDAN, Sudan — A drone attack on Wednesday targeting the Sudanese town of Tamboul, southeast of the capital Khartoum, killed two people including a child, a medical source told AFP.
Neither the regular army nor its paramilitary rival the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) issued any comment on the strike, which was the first attack in months in Al Jazira state, Sudan's pre-war agricultural heartland.
"Two people died in a drone explosion and several more were injured," the source said from Tamboul Hospital, adding that "one of them was an 11-year-old child.
They requested anonymity for their safety, as health workers have been routinely targeted throughout the war.
One Tamboul resident said chaos had erupted Wednesday in the central square, where "hundreds of people had gathered" for a ceremony celebrating Sudan's Army Day, with air defences responding to the drone attack.
The RSF has in recent months been accused of widespread drone attacks across army-controlled areas of Sudan, striking critical infrastructure and causing blackouts for millions.
Al Jazira state had been largely calm since the army recaptured it from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in January during the same counteroffensive that saw it retake Khartoum in March.
According to the United Nations, around a million people have returned to their homes in Al Jazira since January.
Wednesday's celebration in Tamboul was expected to be attended by Abu Aqla Kaykal, the commander of the Sudan Shield Forces, an armed group currently aligned with the military that has been accused of atrocities while fighting on both sides of Sudan's devastating war.
Kaykal's defection to the army's side late last year helped pave the way for its gains in Al Jazira, where he had earlier conquered territory on behalf of the RSF.
Since it began in April 2023, the war between the regular army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
The army now controls the centre, north and east of Sudan, while the RSF holds nearly all of the west and parts of the south.
New talks
The strike came a day after government sources reported Sudan's army chief and de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met with US President Donald Trump's Africa advisor Massad Boulos in a secret meeting in Switzerland about a US peace proposal.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have, since the war began, launched multiple rounds of talks to mediate between Burhan and his deputy turned rival, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
None have yielded a sustained ceasefire, while both sides have been accused of mass atrocities in battles for territory.
The RSF has specifically been accused of mass ethnic killing in Darfur, where it this week launched a new attack on the North Darfur state capital El Fasher, the only major city in the region it does not control.
The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, on Wednesday condemned the renewed RSF campaign.
"Once again, I am raising the alarm about the serious risk of ethnically motivated persecution as the RSF tries to seize control of El Fasher and Abu Shouk camp," he said in a statement.
The assault has killed at least 40 people in the Abu Shouk displacement camp, first responders reported, the same week health officials said 63 people had died from malnutrition as a result of the RSF's siege on the city.
The UN corroborated the Abu Shouk figure and said another 17 civilians had been killed elsewhere. It also said it was "following up on allegations of executions" of displaced people in the camp.