Sudan Drone Strikes Kill Children as Army Seizes Key Town

Sudan's brutal war reached two grim milestones this weekend: drone attacks that killed children sheltering from the fighting, and a major battlefield shift as the army captured a key town in North Kordofan. The latest Sudan drone strikes underline how the conflict, now in its fourth year, keeps pulling civilians deeper into harm's way even as the military balance shifts.

UNICEF Condemns Deadly Strikes on Shelter and University

According to UNICEF, separate Sudan drone strikes late Thursday struck a shelter for displaced people and student housing at the University of Kordofan in El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state. The agency said the first strike hit the El Mina El Bari shelter, killing a boy and wounding 12 children, while the second struck student housing and killed five people and injured 47, as reported by the Sudanese Doctors Network.

The Sudanese Doctors Network said early reports pointed to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces as responsible for the university strike, though it stressed the attribution could not be independently verified and the RSF had not commented. The group said attacks on educational facilities and student housing violate international humanitarian law. UNICEF's representative in Sudan, Angela Kearney, called for an end to attacks on the places where children shelter, according to the agency.

UNICEF said more than 400 children had been killed or injured across Sudan between January and September this year, with Sudan drone strikes accounting for a significant share of the casualties. The agency reported that drone attacks have repeatedly hit homes, hospitals, schools and displacement shelters in El Obeid since fighting between Sudan's army and the RSF intensified across Kordofan in late 2025.

The threat to civilians extends beyond El Obeid. Separately, Sudanese sources reported drone attacks on relief convoys in Dilling on October 3, raising serious questions about the safety of humanitarian workers. Human rights organizations have documented how external support has strengthened the RSF's drone capabilities: Human Rights Watch reported in May 2026 that UAE-linked private security companies were involved in recruiting Colombian mercenaries and diverting weapons to the RSF, while a Reuters report in July cited a UN panel of experts on networks transferring weapons, drones and fighters to the paramilitary. The UAE denies providing military support to either side, and no independent evidence has yet proven who directed the Dilling convoy attack specifically.

Army Claims Momentum in Kordofan

On the battlefield, the Sudanese Armed Forces announced the capture of al-Mazroub, described by an army source as the RSF's primary stronghold in North Kordofan. Mohamed Deidan, spokesman for the army's special forces, told the Anadolu news agency that the town serves as a link between army-controlled North Kordofan and West Kordofan, an RSF stronghold, and called the advance a major turning point in the Kordofan fighting.

The capture followed the army's seizure of Sodari, the administrative headquarters of Sodari Locality, last week. According to the Sudan War Monitor, the loss of Mazroub leaves the army in control of most of North Kordofan's localities, with the RSF retaining pockets mainly in parts of Sodari and Sheikan localities. The RSF units west and south of El Obeid could now face pressure from their northern flank as well as from army forces in the state capital, potentially disrupting RSF movement and supply routes between its positions.

Fighting across Kordofan has intensified since late 2025, after the RSF captured el-Fasher, the army's last major stronghold in Darfur. On Saturday, the army announced it had delivered what it called a "knockout blow" to the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, in Blue Nile state, claiming heavy losses on fighters and equipment. Blue Nile Governor Ahmed al-Omda Badi separately said RSF drone attacks on the governor's house were intercepted by air defences. Neither the RSF nor SPLM-N commented on the army's claims, and none of the battlefield assertions have been independently verified.

Diplomacy, meanwhile, is running on a parallel and uncertain track. A US-backed ceasefire proposal calls for a 90-day truce followed by negotiations toward ending the war and restoring a transition to civilian rule, according to Reuters reporting. Amjad Farid, an adviser to army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, told Reuters the plan risks pushing Sudan toward a Libya-style de facto partition if it leaves the RSF a role in the country's political future. Sudan's army has proposed changes including an internationally monitored withdrawal of RSF forces from urban areas, while Washington has said neither the army nor the RSF represents legitimate constitutional governance for Sudan.

The stakes are staggering: humanitarian organizations estimate the wider conflict has claimed more than 200,000 lives and displaced over 13 million people, making it one of the world's worst crises by almost any measure. With Egypt expected to host a regional summit involving Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan, and Sudan's drone warfare increasingly spilling into the Red Sea arena, the region is bracing for a conflict that shows no sign of burning out. For the children sheltering in El Obeid, that wider strategy is measured in single, terrifying strikes.

Sources: UNICEF reporting on the El Obeid strikes, Sudan War Monitor on the capture of al-Mazroub, and reporting on the Dilling convoy attacks.