Two killed in drone attack in central Sudan, medical source says

A drone attack targeting the Sudanese town of Tamboul, southeast of the capital Khartoum, on Wednesday killed two people including a child, a medical source told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Two people died in a drone explosion and several more were injured," they 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 between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. One Tamboul resident said chaos had erupted in the central square where "hundreds of people had gathered" for a ceremony celebrating Sudan's Army Day, with air defences responding to the attack. Neither the army nor the RSF issued any comment on the strike, the first attack in Al-Jazira state in months. 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 was Sudan's pre-war agricultural heartland. It had been largely calm since the army recaptured it from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in January, in 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 due to be attended by Abu Aqla Kaykal, the commander of the Sudan Shield Forces, an armed group currently aligned with the regular army which 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 hold nearly all of the west and parts of the south. The strike comes 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 assault has killed at least 40 people in a displacement camp, first responders reported, the same week health officials said 63 people died of malnutrition as a result of the RSF's siege on the city.