Sudan’s RSF Intensifies Deadly Drone Attacks in North Kordofan
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Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have intensified deadly drone attacks on government-held towns in the frontline state of North Kordofan, disrupting normal life, killing civilians, and causing a deep sense of insecurity during the ongoing three-and-a-half-year-old civil war.
The escalation marks an apparent new campaign of strikes following several weeks when the RSF appeared to have scaled back attacks under international pressure, according to local residents interviewed by Reuters. Drones have increasingly become the weapon of choice in the conflict, with both the RSF and the Sudanese army deploying technologies utilized in other war zones. Figures gathered by the United Nations reveal that drone attacks carried out by both sides resulted in over 1,000 civilian fatalities during the initial half of the current year.
Deadly Impact on Um Ruwaba Courthouse
On September 8, a drone struck a crowded courtroom in the government-held town of Um Ruwaba, located in central Sudan’s North Kordofan state. The strike killed approximately 10 people and injured dozens more, according to the human rights monitor Emergency Lawyers. Reporting from the site verified that the entire facade of the building was blown out, with concrete columns at the front of one of the city’s most prominent structures blasted apart.
Salah Bakheit, a resident receiving treatment at an Um Ruwaba hospital, sustained a smashed arm and a body pockmarked by shrapnel in the courthouse blast. Bakheit had previously fled al-Obeid after the RSF bombarded that city with drones earlier in the year during an attempted siege. “Once I heard the sound of the blast, I knew it was a strategic drone,” Bakheit told Reuters. “I have been living with drones of all types, strategic drones and suicide drones. I can distinguish between them.”
Al-Obeid College Struck Days Later
A day after the Um Ruwaba attack, another drone strike hit a college in al-Obeid, the state capital of North Kordofan, blasting off the roof and damaging eight classrooms. Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh, the dean of the college, stood amid the wreckage as workers cleared away rubble and confirmed that a security guard had been killed in the blast.
Reflecting the profound anguish experienced by local inhabitants, Omnia Aboul Gassim—a student who finished her examinations at the al-Obeid college just one day prior to the bombardment—spoke about the event. “As you can see, the entire faculty is destroyed and we feel that our dreams are destroyed, our future is destroyed,” Gassim said while standing near the ruins.
While the RSF did not respond to a request for comment regarding the recent escalation, the paramilitary group has previously stated that it does not intentionally target civilians.
Humanitarian and Municipal Crisis Management
As the conflict persists across central Sudan, residents in cities like Um Ruwaba and al-Obeid remain vulnerable to shifting military tactics, forcing communities to adapt to an environment increasingly dominated by aerial strikes.
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