At least 50 people were killed, including 33 children, when a drone bomb hit a kindergarten in the south-central region of Sudan, a doctors’ group said. The African Union said as many as 100 people were killed in the attack.
Paramedics in the town of Kalogi, in South Kordofan state, were the targets of a "second unexpected attack", the Sudan Doctors’ Network said.
Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence against civilians in Sudan, reported the strike on paramedics treating survivors in Kalogi and said “a third civilian site near the previous two” was also hit.
The group blamed the attacks on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, calling the strikes “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children, and vital civilian infrastructure". The death toll is expected to be higher, but communication blackouts in the area have made it difficult to report casualties.
The African Union strongly condemned the attack and called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between the army and the RSF. It put the number of those killed at more than 100 but did not reveal the source of its information.
The attack is the latest outbreak of violence between the RSF and the Sudanese military, which have been locked in civil war since April 2023. The conflict is now concentrated in the oil-rich Kordofan states.
“Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights,” said the Unicef representative for Sudan, Sheldon Yett. “Children should never pay the price of conflict."
Unicef urged all parties in the war “to stop these attacks immediately and allow safe, unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to reach those in desperate need", he said.
Hundreds of civilians were killed throughout the Kordofan states in the past few weeks as intensified fighting shifted from Darfur after the RSF seized control of the city of El Fasher from the armed forces.
US envoy Massad Boulos on Saturday evening condemned a drone attack on the World Food Programme truck in North Darfur. "Both parties to the conflict have used denial of food to the starving as a tactic of war," he said.
"Humanitarian staff and assets must never be a target," Mr Boulos stated.
The World Food Programme on Friday said one of its lorries, part of a convoy, came under attack despite the route having been cleared by both warring parties. The organisation said this was the sixth attack on its vehicles in the past year.
"The route is the main supply lifeline for WFP to reach the most vulnerable people in Darfur – with close to 100 aid trucks every month using the same roads to deliver critical food assistance," it said. The driver was seriously injured.
On Sunday, strikes carried out by the Sudanese military killed at least 48 people, mostly civilians, in Kauda, South Kordofan. UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned that Kordofan could be the scene of atrocities.
On Friday, the RSF condemned a drone strike on the border between Sudan and Chad, accusing the Sudanese military of carrying out the attack.
The RSF posted a video online showing billowing black smoke in the area. The footage could not be independently verified and it is unclear whether there were casualties, AP reported. There was no immediate comment from the military.
The RSF and the Sudanese military have been at war since 2023. More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to the World Health Organisation, and at least 12 million displaced. But aid groups say the actual death toll could be much higher.
