A senior politician aligned with Sudan's Rapid Support Forces was killed in a drone strike late on Tuesday, a rare assassination in the war between the paramilitary group and the Sudanese army.
Osama Hassan, a founding member of the RSF-aligned Ta'asees coalition, was killed in a "treacherous" and "cowardly" attack on a house in the city of Nyala, seat of the parallel administration set up by the RSF in the western Darfur region, according to statements by the paramilitary and its government.
Four other people at the house were injured, two seriously.
The government said the drone strike was "the start of a dangerous method of assassinations targeting civilian and democratic leaders".
A witness in Nyala told The National two rockets were fired in quick succession at the house in the city's Khartoum district, where many members of the RSF-aligned government live, including prime minister Hassan Al Taishy, who was quickly moved to a safe place after the attack.
Unconfirmed reports said the drone strike targeted the home of the rival administration's health minister Alaaeldin Nuqd. Mr Hassan was the leader of the Democratic Alliance for Social Justice party, a member of the Ta'asees coalition comprising small political parties and rebel groups that sided with the RSF in the war.
The army made no immediate comment on the RSF claims.
The warring parties have been in conflict since April 2023, with neither side able to end the civil war militarily and the army rejecting peace initiatives by regional and international powers, insisting on fighting on in the hope its enemy is defeated or surrenders.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people and given rise to the world's worst humanitarian and displacement crises, with about 25 million – half Sudan's prewar population – facing hunger and more than 12 million fleeing their homes to escape the violence or starvation.
The killing of Mr Hassan is a rare assassination in the war, which has chiefly been fought out on the streets of major cities, including the capital Khartoum and its sister cities of Omdurman and Bahri.
The availability of drones, including long-range ones, to both sides could tempt them to turn assassinations into a key tactic to demoralise their rival and make them devote substantial resources to the protection of politicians and field commanders.
Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, the army chief and the country's de facto ruler, escaped an apparent assassination attempt in July 2024 when two drones suspected to be launched by the RSF struck an army graduation ceremony in the country's eastern region.
Gen Al Burhan was unhurt, but five people were killed.
He vowed after the attack: "We will not retreat, we will not surrender and we will not negotiate.
Gen Mohamed Dagalo, commander of the RSF, is widely believed to have been seriously wounded in Khartoum during the early days of the war. He was said to have disappeared from the public eye for months afterwards, seeking medical treatment in Kenya, but neither the army nor the RSF confirmed these reports.
Al Shafie Ahmed contributed to this report from Kampala, Uganda.
