A recent paramilitary drone attack on the army-held town of Kalogi in Sudan’s South Kordofan state hit a kindergarten and a hospital, killing dozens of civilians including children, a local official told AFP on Sunday.

The attack, which took place on Thursday, involved three strikes, “first a kindergarten, then a hospital and a third time as people tried to rescue the children”, Essam al-Din al-Sayed, head of the Kalogi administrative unit, told AFP using a Starlink satellite internet connection.

He blamed the assault on the Rapid Support Forces and their ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, which controls much of South Kordofan and parts of Blue Nile state.

Since April 2023, the army and the paramilitary RSF have been locked in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 12 million.

Independent verification in Kordofan remains difficult due to spotty communications, restricted access and ongoing insecurity.

The UN children’s agency said the attack killed more than 10 children aged between five and seven, while the army-aligned foreign ministry put the overall death toll at 79, including 43 children.

“Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights,” Unicef Representative for Sudan Sheldon Yett, said in a statement on Friday, urging all sides to stop their attacks and allow humanitarian aid.

Escalating violence

Following their late-October capture of El-Fasher — the army’s last stronghold in western Sudan — the RSF has pushed eastward into the oil-rich Kordofan region, divided into three states.

Reports of mass killings, sexual violence, looting and abductions followed El-Fasher’s fall.

UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said on Thursday he “feared another wave of atrocities in Sudan amid a surge in fierce fighting” in Kordofan.

“It is truly shocking to see history repeating itself in Kordofan so soon after the horrific events in El Fasher.” Since the RSF captured the North Kordofan city of Bara on October 25, the UN said it had documented at least 269 civilians killed by aerial strikes, artillery shelling or in summary executions.

A drone strike by the army in Kauda — the SPLM-N faction stronghold in South Kordofan — killed at least 48 people last week, according to the UN.

More than 40,000 people have fled Kordofan in the past month, according to the UN.

Analysts say the RSF offensive aims to break the army’s final defensive arc around central Sudan and set the stage for attempts to retake major cities, including the capital Khartoum.

Accusations

Thursday’s attack in Kalogi came as the army and the RSF traded accusations over a series of drone attacks across the country.

On Friday, the RSF accused the army of carrying out a drone strike on the Adre border crossing with Chad, a key humanitarian and commercial route, alleging that the army wanted to block aid.

The military has not commented on that allegation.

Local sources, speaking anonymously to AFP because they were not authorised to brief the media, attributed an explosion at Adre on Friday to transport vehicles catching fire after a petrol canister detonated.

Satellite imagery and fire monitoring data, verified by AFP, showed no visible signs of smoke or fire in Adre on Thursday or Friday.

The army has accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying the RSF through Chad, accusations that UN experts have described as credible. Abu Dhabi has always denied providing support to the RSF.

In North Darfur, the World Food Programme (WFP) also reported an attack last Thursday on one of its trucks near the town of Hamra El-Sheikh.

The truck, part of a 39-vehicle convoy delivering food to families displaced from El-Fasher to Tawila, about 70 kilometres west, had its cabin destroyed while the driver was seriously injured, the WFP said.