Dozens killed in RSF drone attack in war-torn Sudan’s South Kordofan
Dozens of people have been killed in a drone attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a key town in Sudan’s war-torn South Kordofan state, according to local media.
Several neighborhoods in Dilling, including the headquarters of the Sudanese army’s 54th Brigade and the central market, were hit by suicide drones in Wednesday’s attack, the Sudan Tribune reported, citing local sources and medical groups.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the latest RSF attack, which came a day after the government-aligned Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) announced it had ended the siege of RSF which had lasted for almost two years on Dilling, taking control of the main supply lines.
Dilling is located halfway between Kadugli – the besieged state capital – and El-Obeid, the capital of neighboring North Kordofan province, which the RSF seeks to encircle.
The RSF and SAF have been waging a brutal civil war for control of Sudan since April 2023, which has killed thousands and displaced millions.
Since the siege was lifted, Dilling has suffered a wave of drone attacks that destroyed service facilities and caused several casualties.
Military sources told the Sudan Tribune that the RSF was trying to re-establish the blockade, although the SAF continues to hold the area and repel assaults near the strategic town of Habila in North Kordofan state.
Amid these clashes, the Sudanese Doctors Network has called for the establishment of an emergency humanitarian corridor to provide life-saving food and medicine. Local sources said the situation on the ground remains desperate, with a severe lack of health services and a critical shortage of essential supplies, including intravenous fluids.
After being driven out of the capital Khartoum in March, RSF focused on the Kordofan region and El-Fasher town in North Darfur state, which was the army’s last bastion in the vast Darfur region until the RSF seized it in October.
Reports of massacres, rapes, kidnappings and looting by paramilitaries emerged after el-Fasher took power, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened a formal investigation into “war crimes” committed by both sides.
Dilling was reported to have experienced a severe famine, but the world’s leading authority on food security, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, did not declare a famine in its November report due to lack of data.
Last year, a UN-backed assessment confirmed famine in Kadugli, which has been under siege by RSF for more than a year and a half.
More than 65,000 people have fled the Kordofan region since October, according to the latest UN figures.
The conflict has caused what the UN describes as the largest population displacement in the world and hunger crisiseven if some people returned home despite the destroyed infrastructure.
At its peak, the war displaced around 14 million people, both within the country and across borders.
Thousands of people fleeing violence have sought refuge in neighboring Chadwhich already hosts more than 880,000 Sudanese refugees. Although now safe from immediate danger, many refugees are struggling to survive as humanitarian funding continues to decline.
