A North Kordofan drone attack killed at least 28 people and injured dozens after a strike targeted a crowded market near the town of Sodari, according to a Sudanese rights group on Monday.<\/p>\n
The group, Emergency Lawyers, said the strike took place Sunday evening at Al-Safiya market, an area under the control of the Rapid Support Forces. The toll is preliminary and could rise as more information becomes available.<\/p>\n
The incident comes amid intensified fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, with both sides increasingly relying on drones in battles across the Kordofan region.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Emergency Lawyers said drones struck Al-Safiya market, located northeast of Sodari in North Kordofan state, killing at least 28 civilians and wounding dozens with varying degrees of injuries.<\/p>\n
The market was reportedly crowded at the time of the strike, including women, children, and elderly residents. The group condemned the targeting of a civilian facility and described the attack as a serious violation of international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n
The statement did not assign responsibility for the strike.<\/p>\n
Sodari lies about 230 kilometers northwest of El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, which remains under army control. The Rapid Support Forces have been attempting for months to tighten their siege around El-Obeid.<\/p>\n
The Kordofan region has witnessed an escalation in drone warfare in recent months, resulting in:<\/p>\n
Increased civilian casualties in populated areas
\nDamage to infrastructure and essential services
\nNew waves of displacement<\/p>\n
Last Wednesday, a separate drone strike killed two children and wounded 12 others in the city of Al-Rahad in North Kordofan. Another attack destroyed a warehouse belonging to the UN World Food Programme in South Kordofan.<\/p>\n
Fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces erupted in April 2023 and has since evolved into a nationwide conflict. The war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million, according to the United Nations, which describes the situation as the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n
Kordofan has become a central battleground after the Rapid Support Forces consolidated control over much of the neighboring Darfur region and expanded operations eastward. The region is strategically significant because it:<\/p>\n
Links Darfur in the west with Khartoum and eastern Sudan
\nContains oil resources and agricultural land
\nServes as a key transit corridor for military and commercial routes<\/p>\n
Separately, Sudanese Prime Minister Kamel Idris said during a press conference in Khartoum, following his participation in the Munich Security Conference, that the government had launched a national initiative to end the war, known as the \u201cSudan Peace Initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Idris, the proposal calls for the withdrawal of Rapid Support Forces from areas under their control, alongside a ceasefire monitored by a joint mechanism including the United Nations, the African Union, and the Arab League.<\/p>\n
He said the government was prepared for dialogue with what he described as \u201cbackers of the rebellion,\u201d while stressing that the war had been imposed on the state.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate response from the Rapid Support Forces regarding the market strike.<\/p>\n
The North Kordofan drone attack highlights the growing risks facing civilians as drone warfare intensifies in Sudan\u2019s conflict. With frontlines expanding and no confirmed ceasefire in place, humanitarian concerns continue to mount across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A North Kordofan drone attack killed at least 28 people and injured dozens after a strike targeted a crowded market near the town of Sodari, according to a Sudanese rights group on Monday. The group, Emergency Lawyers, said the strike took place Sunday evening at Al-Safiya market, an area under the control of the Rapid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28553,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28550\/revisions\/28553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}