Sudan Drone Strike Kills 53 at Abyei Market

A Sudanese army drone strike killed 53 people and wounded at least 27 at Amiet market in the disputed Abyei district, local authorities said Tuesday. Authorities said the attack took place Monday and accused the army of firing 22 munitions. South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said the market also serves as a transit point for goods headed to areas controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The strike and its reported toll

Those killed and wounded included women, children, older people, local merchants, members of the host Ngok Dinka community, South Sudanese returnees and Sudanese refugees who had sought sanctuary from the regional conflict, authorities said. The reported toll puts the market attack among a wider wave of deadly strikes as Sudan’s army and the RSF fight for territory.

South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Sudanese ambassador and condemned the attack “in the strongest terms possible.” The ministry accused the Sudanese army of hitting multiple locations within the market. The market’s reported role as a transit point links the site to areas controlled by the RSF, but the source article did not say what goods were being transported or whether the military had responded to the accusation.

Both Sudan and South Sudan claim Abyei. The countries separated in 2011 after decades of conflict. Parts of the district are controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, a splinter group from the organization that fought for Juba’s independence. The SPLM-N has split into two factions, and each supports an opposing side in Sudan’s war.

A broader wave of attacks

More than 100 people died in strikes across Sudan between Sunday and Monday as the Sudanese army and the RSF fought. The conflict began in April 2023. Multiple outside powers have fuelled Sudan’s war, which has caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The deadliest reported strike in the recent wave hit near a market Sunday evening in al-Dibab town, in West Kordofan, a southwestern state controlled by the RSF. Residents and medical workers said a drone struck a transport hub where villagers had gathered after market day to find rides home. It killed 80 people.

Ahmed Abakar Wadi helped bury victims. The resident told AFP that workers recovered at least 50 bodies at the scene, including his brother’s. Another 47 wounded people went to nearby al-Mujlad, where 30 later died, according to a medical source. “The drone struck once, and then came back 10 minutes later and struck again,” Wadi told AFP.

The RSF’s self-declared administration, Tasis, and the Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers accused the army of carrying out the al-Dibab attack. The military hadn’t commented. The strike ranks among the deadliest single attacks in Kordofan, an oil-rich region linking western and eastern Sudan where the army and RSF have fought for territory.

Drone attacks across Sudan

Strikes also hit Nyala, an RSF stronghold in South Darfur, and Khartoum, the army-controlled capital. The United Nations said drone attacks across Sudan killed more than 1,100 people during the first half of 2026. The figures from Amiet and al-Dibab add to a conflict in which drone strikes have caused heavy civilian casualties, though responsibility for some attacks remains disputed.