Sudanese army drone strike kills over 100 at Nyala market

A drone strike carried out by the Sudanese military hit a busy market in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province in southwestern Sudan, on Monday evening, killing more than 100 people and injuring 113, according to a statement by the rights group Emergency Lawyers. Many of those killed and injured were women and children.

Emergency Lawyers blamed the Sudanese military for the attack and condemned it, describing the strike as an assault that threatens residents' lives and deepens their suffering during the ongoing war. The group called for an independent investigation into the incident.

“This massacre transformed a civilian marketplace into a scene of mass killing and injury and is an assault that threatens the lives of residents and compounds their suffering amid the ongoing war.”

Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, reported that 36 bodies arrived at its hospital in Nyala and said it saw 150 injured people in its emergency room. Nyala is controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has fought the Sudanese army since 2023.

Drone strikes by both warring parties have escalated sharply in recent weeks, killing hundreds and increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, dams, schools, markets, and displacement camps. The United Nations says drone strikes are now the deadliest threat to civilians in the conflict.

Sudan's war began in April 2023 when tensions between the military and the Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in Khartoum and spread nationwide. The conflict has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with about 34 million people—nearly two out of every three Sudanese—needing assistance, according to the UN.

Separately, large parts of Sudan's capital were without electricity for more than 12 hours on Tuesday after a drone strike hit a major power substation.