Khartoum Power Cut for 12+ Hours After Drone Strike; Rights Group Says 100+ Killed at Nyala Market

At about 4:30 on Tuesday morning, Abdel-Hafiz Abdel-Mutaal was walking to dawn prayers in Omdurman when he heard a drone very close overhead. Moments later came an explosion, and the power went out. He told The Associated Press he saw fire burning at the Al-Markhiyat transformer station nearby.

The strike left large parts of Khartoum without electricity for more than 12 hours, according to an official at the state-run Sudanese Electricity Distribution Company. Hospitals and bakeries fell back on generators, and water supplies across the capital were limited. The city went dark after sundown. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. He said this was the second time the station had been hit this year, and he blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the RSF.

The company's own statement was more guarded. It acknowledged serious damage and technical faults to the distribution network, several main stations and power lines, but gave no cause. It apologized to residents of Khartoum state for repeated and prolonged outages, and said rationing would last longer than usual in all areas until repairs are finished. It gave no date. Technical teams, it said, were working around the clock.

The official described the strike as major and said assessments were still under way. He estimated that 60 percent of the capital's power supply could be affected, and predicted water stations would suffer most.

For residents, that meant concrete problems. Adel Ali, who lives in south Khartoum, said he went 17 hours without power and water. A diabetes patient, he worried about keeping his insulin cold. He said life without electricity was paralyzed, and that a bread crisis was emerging as many bakeries shut down, which he expected to push bread prices higher.

The attack is notable because drone strikes on Khartoum have become rare since the Sudanese military took control of the capital in May 2025, after years of brutal fighting with the RSF. The war began in April 2023, when tensions between the two forces turned into open combat in Khartoum and spread across the country. Both sides have carried out deadly drone attacks elsewhere. The U.N. has voiced concern that drones are killing civilians, including children, and disrupting essential services.

Later on Tuesday came a separate, graver report from Nyala, the capital of South Darfur in the southwest. The rights group Emergency Lawyers, which tracks violence in Sudan, said in a statement that a Sudanese military drone strike on a busy market there on Monday evening killed more than 100 people and injured 113. It said many of the dead and wounded were women and children, and it blamed the Sudanese military and condemned the attack. The figures are the group's own.

The wider toll is heavy. The conflict monitor ACLED counts at least 59,000 dead, though aid groups say the real number is likely higher. More than 67 percent of Sudan's population depends on aid, and 825,000 children face acute malnutrition. Last week the global food crisis monitor IPC warned that conditions in greater Darfur and Kordofan are deteriorating and that food insecurity puts those areas at risk of famine. In a joint statement, more than 30 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Commission, urged the warring parties to lift all impediments to humanitarian assistance.

What to watch now: when Khartoum's power is restored, since the company has offered no timeline, and whether the Nyala casualty figures are confirmed beyond the rights group's statement.