At least 40 people have been killed in Sudan after a drone strike hit a funeral in al-Luweib village, near the army-controlled city of el-Obeid in North Kordofan state. Local officials and aid groups blamed the attack on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), though the paramilitary group has not yet commented.
Witnesses said mourners were gathered under a funeral tent when drones struck on Monday morning, leaving dozens dead and many others critically injured. Many victims reportedly died before reaching hospitals in el-Obeid, a vital city connecting Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to the conflict-torn Darfur region.
The attack comes amid intensified fighting in oil-rich Kordofan, where around 20,000 people fled to el-Obeid last week after the RSF captured Bara town, just 30km north of the city. The fall of Bara coincided with the RSF’s takeover of el-Fasher, the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in Darfur.
Humanitarian groups report widespread atrocities in the newly captured areas, including mass killings, sexual violence, abductions, and looting by RSF fighters. The UN and the International Criminal Court (ICC) say these acts could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
While the RSF has denied ethnically targeted attacks, the ICC has warned that the group’s actions follow a pattern of violence against non-Arab populations. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, has promised to investigate the alleged violations.
Meanwhile, famine has officially been declared in el-Fasher after 18 months of siege by the RSF, according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The city of Kadugli in South Kordofan has also reached “catastrophic” levels of hunger as it remains encircled by the paramilitary group.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the crisis as “spiralling out of control,” calling for an immediate ceasefire during a summit in Doha. “El-Fasher and its surrounding areas have become an epicentre of suffering, hunger, and displacement,” he said.
Washington and other global powers are reportedly pushing for a ceasefire and a political roadmap to end the war, but previous peace talks in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have failed, with both sides refusing to halt hostilities.
Since the conflict between Sudan’s army and the RSF began in April 2023, over 150,000 people have been killed and more than 12 million displaced, making it one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.