KHARTOUM: A drone strike on a cattle market in Sudan’s Nyala killed 30 people on Friday, a medical source said, in one of the deadliest attacks on the paramilitary stronghold in the western Darfur region.

The Rapid Support Forces blamed the attack on the army, while a military source acknowledged an uptick in strikes on the area, without claiming responsibility.

Both the RSF and the army, at war since April 2023, have increasingly used drones to launch far-reaching attacks without sacrificing their fighters.

Nyala, Sudan’s second-largest city and the capital of South Darfur state, serves as the seat of the self-declared administration established by the RSF last year.

“The drone strike on the city’s cattle market today killed 30 people and wounded 47 others, who are receiving treatment at the hospital,” a medical source at Nyala Hospital said.

The source did not say who was responsible for the attack.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2026