Military drone strikes in southwestern Sudan’s Darfur that killed more than 100 people—mostly women and children—earlier this week targeted a busy city market frequented by paramilitary fighters, witnesses said.
Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence, put the toll from Monday’s attacks at more than 100 dead and 113 wounded.
While Emergency Lawyers reported that most of the victims were women and children, witnesses said on Wednesday that multiple civilian vendors who sold goods to paramilitary fighters were among those killed in the attack in Nyala, the South Darfur city that serves as the de facto capital of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The war between the RSF and the army, now in its fourth year, has created severe poverty, food shortages, and the world’s worst displacement crisis.
A cigarette vendor told the Associated Press (AP) news agency on Wednesday that hundreds of RSF fighters gathered at the market on the evening of the attack. He said that he moved his stall between gatherings of the paramilitary fighters to sell cigarettes and that a drone struck around 8pm (18:00 GMT), killing dozens of fighters and women selling food.
Another witness told the AP that the explosion was massive and killed many fighters. He estimated that around 14 civilians, including women and children, were also killed, most of them women selling tea and food.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
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