Sudan Drone Strikes Hit Funeral and Market, 200+ Dead

The Sudan drone strikes that hit a funeral convoy and a fuel market this week have reportedly killed more than two hundred people, according to BBC News. It is one of the bloodiest stretches in a war that has already pushed millions from their homes.

What happened on Sunday and Monday

The wave began on Sunday evening in West Kordofan state. The Sudan War Observatory, a group that tracks the conflict, told sources a death toll of one hundred fifty across two areas. A truck carrying around two hundred mourners was hit as it arrived in the town of Al-Dabab, and a tent where people had gathered for the funeral was struck too.

Residents described a brutal pattern. According to Arab News, a witness said the drone struck once and then came back ten minutes later for a second hit on a transport hub where villagers were waiting for rides home after market day.

On Monday, drones hit the Amiet market in the disputed Abyei region. The area's information minister said seventy-three people were killed, while another local statement cited a lower figure, so the count is still shifting.

Who is blamed and what the army says

A military source told the BBC the army carried out the Abyei attack and described the market as a fuel supply site for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, known as the RSF. The army did not respond to the allegation over the Sunday strikes, but has said it does not attack civilians even when it believes fighters are mixed in with them.

West Kordofan is controlled by the RSF, and its self-declared administration blamed the army. Both sides have been trading drone attacks as the fighting shifts toward Kordofan, a region rich in gold and oil, since the army retook Khartoum.

Why Abyei makes this more dangerous

Abyei is claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, and the two countries jointly administer it. That dispute has gone unresolved since South Sudan became independent in 2011. According to Reuters, South Sudan's foreign ministry said drones struck the market north of Abyei town.

South Sudan has summoned Sudan's ambassador to lodge a formal protest. There are fears the conflict could spill across the border, which would add a second fragile state to an already crowded crisis map.

Drones are now the weapon of choice

Despite a partial arms embargo, foreign countries keep supplying both the army and the RSF with drones. Between January and April, drone strikes accounted for at least eight hundred eighty civilian deaths, more than eighty percent of all conflict-related civilian deaths in Sudan, per reporting carried by AOL.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the organization is alarmed by continued deadly drone strikes that kill civilians, including children, and disrupt essential services. He also noted that twenty million people face acute hunger, with a rising risk of famine in parts of Darfur and Greater Kordofan.

The human cost behind the headlines

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said its team at Ameth Bek Hospital in Abyei received over twenty patients, including several critical cases and burn injuries. Emergency workers struggled to reach bodies because of fires caused by the strikes. BBC Verify studied satellite images showing extensive burnt buildings in the market's north-east corner.

Elsewhere, a drone strike near the Khartoum airport killed four people, including three children, according to AFP. The army said its air defences shot down other drones launched by the RSF toward the airport.

The war began in April 2023 and has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced more than fourteen million from their homes. If you scroll past it, that is the scale of what is being called one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet. For more global coverage, see our war desk.

What to watch next

Keep an eye on whether South Sudan escalates beyond a diplomatic protest, whether the UN pushes for tighter enforcement of the arms embargo, and whether death tolls are revised as rescuers reach the sites. With communications blackouts in RSF-held areas, final numbers may take days to firm up. Sudan drone strikes are likely to keep climbing as a driver of civilian deaths until the flow of weapons slows.