Sudan's Shelters Are Not Safe: Drones Kill 306 in Three Weeks, UN Says

Drone strikes killed at least 306 people across Sudan in the first three weeks of October, the UN human rights office said, documenting an escalation reaching civilian shelters and services. ^[1]

Hundreds more were injured. The office attributed strikes to both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the rival forces whose war began in April 2023. Homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites, power stations and water sources were hit across Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum and other states. ^[1][2]

The toll puts a countrywide measure on attacks that have reached people seeking refuge, earning money and travelling. UN human rights chief Volker Türk said drones already accounted for the majority of conflict-related civilian deaths in Sudan this year. ^[1]

Türk called their increasing use and human toll "deeply disturbing". His office released the documented minimum on October 23, alongside accounts of strikes on displaced families and damage to services needed to keep people alive. ^[1]

The Daily Inference reported on October 20 preliminary casualty estimates from attacks in West Kordofan and Abyei, a disputed border region between Sudan and South Sudan, and accusations against Sudan's army. The new UN findings extend the picture across the first three weeks of the month and attribute strikes to both warring sides. ^[1]

People displaced, then hit again

Between October 6 and 10, alleged drone strikes attributed to government forces hit shelters for displaced people in Ghubeish and El Nuhud, in West Kordofan. At least 25 civilians were killed, including women and children, according to the UN human rights office. ^[1]

These were places where people had sought safety after leaving home. The attacks expose a second danger of displacement: reaching a shelter does not put a family beyond the war's reach.

On October 9, an alleged RSF drone strike hit displaced people engaged in small-scale gold mining near a displacement site in Abu Shendi, Blue Nile. The UN put the death toll at least 31, most of them women and children. ^[1]

The following week brought a much larger single-incident toll. At least 139 people were killed on October 18 when a transportation truck was hit in Dibab, an RSF-controlled area of West Kordofan. The human rights office described a repeat, or "double tap", strike. ^[1]

The figures remain minimum counts rather than a final accounting. The UN has not published a full breakdown of the 306 deaths, and responsibility for individual attacks remains subject to verification. For Abyei, the UN said on October 21 that it could not formally determine responsibility. ^[1][2]

The Sudanese army had not responded to allegations that it carried out the West Kordofan strikes, according to the BBC. The army has said it does not attack civilians, including when it believes RSF fighters are among them. ^[3]

A hospital and a market

The damage reaches beyond the people caught in an explosion. An RSF-attributed drone strike on Um Darfa hospital in Blue Nile on October 11 seriously injured two health workers and left the hospital non-operational, according to the UN human rights office. ^[1]

A hospital put out of service leaves a gap for people who were nowhere near the strike. Alongside attacks on power stations and water sources, the loss of medical care makes the civilian toll harder to contain. UN human rights office spokesperson Seif Magango said the destruction of vital infrastructure and services was worsening displacement and the humanitarian crisis. ^[1]

In Abyei, UN peacekeepers visited communities affected by the October 19 drone attack on Amiet Market and the Todach area. More than 80 people were killed, according to the UN's October 23 account. Peacekeepers took more than 27 injured people to the mission hospital in Todach. ^[1]

Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Farooq, a battalion commander with the UN peacekeeping mission in Abyei, known as UNISFA, said that when peacekeepers reached Amiet Market, "every shop was burning". ^[1]

For trader Angelina Musa Diaw, a mother of three, the destruction also meant the loss of her livelihood. "No work, everything is gone," she said. "I am here with my children. But I need help." ^[1]

Her account shows what a market's destruction takes away after the casualties have been counted: the work that lets a family support itself. Across the UN's examples, places used to earn money, obtain treatment or take shelter have become places of danger.

Calls for an investigation and a ceasefire

The Security Council condemned the Abyei attack and called for a full, transparent and prompt investigation. It said attacks on civilians could amount to war crimes. In its October 21 update, the UN said people were still missing as UNISFA worked to verify casualties. ^[1][2]

Secretary-General António Guterres called for accountability and urged Sudan and South Sudan to help prevent further attacks and uphold Abyei's demilitarized status. ^[2]

Türk called for a ceasefire and said peace efforts must address arms transfers that fuel the conflict. His warning connects the immediate need to protect civilians with the weapons sustaining the fighting. ^[1]