Sudan drone strikes kill more than 300 in West Kordofan and Abyei, including mourners

More than 300 people have been killed in a wave of drone strikes in Sudan's West Kordofan state and the disputed Abyei area since Sunday evening, according to local officials and the conflict monitor Sudan War Observatory, BBC News reported on Tuesday. A military source told the BBC that Sudan's army carried out the strike on a market in Abyei, which it described as a fuel supply point for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

What happened, place by place

The heaviest single strike in West Kordofan hit a truck carrying about 200 mourners as it reached the town of Al-Dabab on its way to a funeral, the observatory said, and a second strike hit the tent where others had gathered. It said the drones were likely launched from Kadugli, an army-held city in South Kordofan.

In Abyei, the market about 10km from Abyei town was hit at around 11:30am local time on Monday, which was 2:30pm in Pakistan. Abyei's information minister, Yohana Akol Ngor, told the Associated Press and Reuters on Tuesday that the death toll had risen from 73 to 153, and said rescuers struggled to reach victims because of the fires. BBC Verify checked satellite images showing extensive burnt buildings in one corner of the market and footage of a large plume of smoke and at least one petrol tanker.

Sudan's army has not responded to the accusation over the West Kordofan strikes. It says it does not attack civilians.

Why Abyei matters

Abyei is an oil-rich border area claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan and left unresolved since South Sudan became independent in 2011. It is jointly administered and has been guarded by UN peacekeepers since 2011, with more than 2,800 uniformed personnel there now. South Sudan has summoned Sudan's ambassador to protest, and there are fears the war could spread across the border, the BBC said.

The war in numbers

• Since April 2023: Sudan's army and the RSF have been at war; hundreds of thousands of people have been killed.
• More than 14 million people have been forced from their homes.
• 20 million people face acute hunger, with a rising risk of famine in Darfur and Greater Kordofan, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
• Drones supplied by foreign countries to both sides, despite a partial arms embargo, have become the main weapon of the conflict.

"We are alarmed by the continued deadly drone strikes across the country that are killing civilians, including children," Dujarric said.

Greater Kordofan, made up of three states, links RSF-held Darfur in the west with the capital, Khartoum, which the army now holds, and has become the war's main front this year.

For more from the region, see our world news desk.