Abyei Market Strike Kills 153 as Sudan War Spills Over

The Abyei market strike has become one of the deadliest single attacks in Sudan's war, and the toll is still climbing. A drone attack on Amiet Market in the disputed Abyei region killed at least one hundred fifty-three people on Monday, according to a local official quoted by Al Jazeera.

What happened at Amiet Market

Amiet Market sits about ten kilometres north of Abyei town, a patch of oil-rich land that both Sudan and South Sudan claim. Drones hit the market around midday on Monday and set off a fire at a nearby fuel depot, and that fire was still burning on Tuesday.

Yohanna Akol Ngor, the caretaker information minister for the Abyei administration, told reporters the number of confirmed dead jumped from seventy-three to one hundred fifty-three as rescuers worked. He warned it could rise further because some victims were burned beyond recognition and others are still missing, according to Radio Tamazuj.

Ngor said the bodies recovered so far were buried in two mass graves, one east and one west of the market. About thirty people are being treated in hospital, some in critical condition. He also pushed back on reports that the toll had reached two hundred twenty, saying one hundred fifty-three is the confirmed figure.

Who was killed

The dead include Sudanese, South Sudanese and Somali nationals, Ngor said. That detail matters because markets like Amiet are cross-border hubs where traders, drivers and families from several countries mix every day.

The Associated Press reported that the strike also hit people near a fuel depot, and the BBC reported that dozens of those killed were travelling to a funeral. Sources also told the Sudan War Observatory that separate strikes in two areas of West Kordofan state on Sunday evening killed about one hundred fifty more, according to the BBC. Together, the attacks push the toll from recent days past two hundred fifty, and some counts run higher.

The army's explanation

A senior Sudanese military officer told the Associated Press the army carried out the strike. He said the target was fuel tankers arriving from South Sudan that were bound for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, known as the RSF. He claimed those killed were RSF members and people tied to fuel smuggling, but that claim has not been verified, as Sky News noted.

Three diplomatic sources, an aid worker and a conflict expert told Reuters the strike hit a fuel depot that had previously been used by the RSF. Even so, the images of a crowded civilian market in flames raise hard questions about whether any military target justifies this kind of strike. South Sudan's foreign ministry blamed the Sudanese military and said drones hit several locations in the market.

Why this war keeps spilling over

Sudan's war erupted in April two thousand twenty-three between the army and the RSF. It has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and drawn in local militias and foreign powers. This attack shows how the fighting is no longer confined to Sudan itself, since Abyei is a disputed zone that borders South Sudan and sits on valuable oil.

For South Sudan, a country already fragile after its own civil conflict, an attack on its border region by Sudan's military is a dangerous escalation. Sudan's armed forces had not immediately commented on the accusations when the news first broke. You can follow more of our coverage of the conflict on our war coverage page.

What to watch next

The first thing to watch is the final death toll, since fires and missing people make an accurate count slow and painful. The second is whether the African Union, the United Nations or the United States demand an investigation into the Abyei market strike and the attacks in West Kordofan.

The third is whether South Sudan responds with more than words. Any retaliation could drag a second country directly into the fighting. For young people watching from far away, the takeaway is simple: a market, a funeral and a fuel depot are not battlefields, and the people who pay for this war are ordinary civilians.

The Abyei market strike is a reminder that Sudan's crisis has not faded just because headlines moved on. Aid groups say millions need help, and each new attack makes delivering it harder. We will update this story as more verified details come in from the region.