Drone strikes kill civilians in Sudan's El‑Obeid

In late June, unmanned aerial attacks hit the water‑truck station in El‑Obeid, a strategic trade and aid hub home to over half a million people. The strikes wounded Elsadig, who lost a leg, and killed 9‑year‑old Ahmado’s son along with two of the driver’s colleagues.

The attacks are part of the wider Sudanese civil war that erupted in April 2023 after the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Abdel Fattah al‑Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) fell into open conflict. The United Nations says the war has displaced more than 14 million people and caused tens of thousands of deaths. Drone weapons now account for over 80 % of civilian fatalities recorded by the UN, with at least 880 civilians killed in the first four months of 2026 alone. The growing use of foreign‑made drones is reshaping the conflict and heightening the humanitarian crisis.