NYALA, Sudan — A drone strike on a busy market in Nyala on Monday evening killed more than 100 people, Emergency Lawyers said on Tuesday. The Sudanese rights group, which tracks violence in the country, gave the figure in a statement.
The group put the injured at 113. Many of those killed and hurt were women and children, it said, and it blamed the Sudanese military for the strike.
“This massacre transformed a civilian marketplace into a scene of mass killing and injury and is an assault that threatens the lives of residents and compounds their suffering amid the ongoing war,” the group said. It called for an independent investigation.
The count from the hospital in Nyala is lower, and the two figures have not been reconciled. At Nyala Teaching Hospital, which Doctors Without Borders supports, 36 bodies arrived, the group, known as MSF, said. Among the dead, 21 wore civilian clothing. Its teams saw more than 150 wounded patients in the emergency room.
MSF placed the strike at about 8 p.m. in the west of the city. A second strike hit a civilian neighbourhood, it said. Dale Koninckx, its project coordinator in Nyala, said patients arrived with shrapnel injuries, blood on their faces and severe burns, carried in on tuk-tuks and donkey carts.
“This is appalling. Markets, homes, and key civilian infrastructure are not targets. All parties to the conflict must protect civilians.”
South Darfur’s capital, Nyala, is held by the Rapid Support Forces. The paramilitary group and the Sudanese army have been at war since April 2023.
Both sides have stepped up drone strikes in recent weeks, killing hundreds, The Associated Press reported. Their strikes have hit hospitals, dams, schools, markets and displacement camps. The United Nations, according to the AP report, calls drone strikes the deadliest threat to civilians in the conflict.
Khartoum lost power across large parts of the city for more than 12 hours on Tuesday, after a drone hit a major power substation, an electric company official told The Associated Press. In a statement, the state-run Sudanese Electricity Distribution Company acknowledged serious damage to the network. It gave no reason for the damage. Speaking on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak to the media, the official blamed the Rapid Support Forces for that strike.
Sudan’s war started in April 2023. Tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in Khartoum first, and the fighting then spread across the country. At least 59,000 people have been killed, by the count of the conflict monitor ACLED, cited by The Associated Press. About 34 million people need assistance, the United Nations says.
Monday’s strike was not the first at a Nyala market this month, in MSF’s account. On Oct. 16, a drone hit the Al-Mawashi market there, killing at least four people and injuring many more, MSF said. Neither toll for Monday’s strike has been independently verified.
Have something to promote?
Bring your business, services or event to our readers.
