RSF Drone Strike Kills 24 in Sudan Including 8 Children

The attack near Rahad underscores how Sudan’s war has evolved into a campaign that increasingly places civilians and aid operations at direct risk, with drones extending the battlefield deep into displacement routes and humanitarian corridors. Sudan Doctors Network said at least 24 people, including 8 children and 2 infants, were killed Saturday when a vehicle carrying displaced families was struck near Rahad in North Kordofan province.

Escalation Through Aerial Means

The doctors’ group said the strike was carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and targeted civilians fleeing fighting in the Dubeiker area. Several others were wounded and taken to Rahad for treatment, despite severe shortages of medical supplies across much of Kordofan.

In its statement, the network urged international action “to protect civilians and hold the RSF leadership directly accountable for these violations,” calling the attack a grave breach of international humanitarian law.

UAE-linked RSF militia has been fighting Sudan’s army for nearly three years, since April 2023, when a power struggle erupted into open warfare in Khartoum and spread nationwide. Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced since then, according to United Nations figures.

Aid Operations Under Fire

The Rahad strike came one day after a separate attack on a World Food Program convoy in North Kordofan. Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said the convoy was en route to deliver “life-saving food assistance” to displaced people in the city of Obeid when it was hit. One person was killed and several others wounded, while the trucks were burned and the aid destroyed.

“Attacks on aid operations undermine efforts to reach people facing hunger and displacement,” Brown said.

Last week, Brown also said a drone strike hit close to a WFP facility in Blue Nile province, wounding a WFP worker.

Emergency Lawyers, an independent documentation group, blamed the RSF for that incident, while the Sudan Doctors Network described it as a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and amounts to a full-fledged war crime.”

Accountability Pressure Builds

International scrutiny of the RSF has intensified. On Jan 30, Reuters reported that UAE-linked RSF militants abducted at least 56 children in Darfur between 2023 and October 2024, raising new war-crimes concerns amid fighting around al-Fashir.

Last December the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on senior RSF commanders, including Abdul Rahim Dagalo, the brother of RSF leader Mohamed “Hemedti” Dagalo, over alleged mass killings, systematic sexual violence, and attacks on civilians.

Massad Boulos, a U.S. adviser for African and Arab affairs, condemned the recent attacks on X, saying, “Destroying food intended for people in need and killing humanitarian workers is sickening,” and added that the U.S. demands accountability for the destruction of U.S.-funded assistance.

A Widening Humanitarian Collapse

Kordofan has emerged as a central flashpoint, even as the army earlier this year broke RSF sieges of two major cities in the region. The UN says more than 40,000 people have been killed nationwide, a figure aid groups warn is a severe undercount.

Over 14 million people have been forced to flee, creating what the UN describes as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with disease outbreaks and famine spreading.

Since October, some have described RSF leader Hemedti as the architect of a genocide stretching from Darfur to Khartoum, citing mass displacement and famine conditions, including an estimated 400,000 people trapped under siege in El Fasher.