At least 24 people, including eight children and infants, were killed when a drone struck a humanitarian convoy in Sudan on Saturday, officials said.
Authorities blamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary for the attack. The convoy was carrying residents fleeing fighting around Dubeiker, and the strike reportedly occurred near the city of Rahad in North Kordofan.
The RSF is also suspected of carrying out a separate attack on Friday against a UN World Food Program convoy delivering aid to displaced people in the same area. The UN reported one person killed and several others injured in that incident.
Many of the wounded from Saturday’s strike were taken to Rahad for treatment, but local hospitals and clinics — like much of the region — are short of medical supplies.
The Sudan Doctors Network, which monitors the conflict, called on the international community to act immediately to protect civilians and to hold RSF leaders accountable. The group condemned the WFP convoy attack as a ‘‘flagrant violation of international humanitarian law’’ and said it ‘‘amounts to a full-fledged war crime.’’
The RSF has not publicly claimed responsibility for either attack.
The violence in Kordofan has intensified since the RSF seized control of Sudan’s western Darfur region in October, shifting the front lines of the conflict.
Sudan has been engulfed in fighting since clashes between the national military and the RSF erupted in Khartoum in April 2023. The UN estimates the death toll at more than 40,000, though observer groups believe the true number may be considerably higher. The war has triggered what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with over 14 million people displaced and disease and hunger spreading. Nearly half of Sudan’s roughly 50.5 million people face acute food insecurity.