KHARTOUM: A drone attack killed 28 people and injured 23 more at a market in the paramilitary-controlled Sudanese town of Ghubaysh in West Kordofan on Tuesday, a medical source and three witnesses said.

Drone strikes by both the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war with each other since April 2023, have intensified across Sudan in recent months, particularly in western Darfur, southern Kordofan and the southeastern state of Blue Nile. A medical source said casualties were taken to Ghubaysh hospital following Tuesday’s attack.

Two witnesses said the drone hit a crowded restaurant at the town’s main market, attributing the attack to the army. Another witness said it first struck an RSF vehicle, “killing three people on board and destroying the vehicle, before hitting the restaurant”.

An army source denied the reports, saying the military does not target civilians and only “conducts strikes against military objectives”, including armed vehicles and weapons and ammunition storage sites. The RSF has yet to comment. The conflict, now in its fourth year, has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations. Since January, at least 880 civilians have been killed in drone attacks, the UN says.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2026