In a war that has run for nearly three years and is now drawing toward its fourth, the sky over Sudan has become a new instrument of ordinary death. On a Wednesday in late March, a drone struck a crowded market in Saraf Omra, a small town in North Darfur, and the fire from a parked oil truck spread through the stalls, taking the lives of at least 22 people, an infant among them. Elsewhere, on a highway in North Kordofan, a truck carrying civilians was hit in a similar way. The question of who launched these machines remains unanswered, and that uncertainty is itself part of the grim pattern: a
Two Drone Strikes on Civilian Targets Kill 28 in Sudan as War Nears Fourth Year
At least 28 civilians were killed in two drone strikes, including an infant, with dozens more wounded and over 11.6 million people displaced since the war began.
A parked oil truck was hit, and the flames spread through the market.
Mark
Two strikes, 28 dead. Why does this one deserve attention in a war this long?
Mimi
Because it shows the pattern. A market and a civilian truck on a highway are ordinary places, and the UN counts more than 500 drone deaths between 1 January and 15 March.
Luke
Careful with the 28, though. It comes from health workers speaking to AFP, not from an independent tally.
Mark
And the market strike in Saraf Omra?
Mimi
Twenty-two killed, including an infant, 17 hurt. A trader said the drone hit a parked oil truck and the fire spread through part of the market.
Luke
Who sent that drone is not known. The reporting says so plainly, and nobody should fill that gap.
Mark
What about the North Kordofan truck?
Mimi
Six bodies, three charred, ten wounded, at El Rahad hospital. That road through El Obeid has been hit by both sides.
Luke
The RSF blame there comes from one hospital source. It's an attribution, not a finding.
Mark
Does the East Darfur hospital strike belong in this story?
Mimi
It shows the scale: 64 killed and 89 wounded, per the WHO. The Emergency Lawyers said it was an army drone.
Luke
That is one group's assessment, and the WHO figure covers casualties, not responsibility. Whether anyone investigates is still unknown.
O Pulso
- A drone strike turned a busy market in Saraf Omra into a fire zone, killing at least 22 people, including an infant.
- A second drone hit a civilian truck on a North Kordofan highway, leaving six dead, several charred, and ten wounded.
- No one has yet established which side, the army or the RSF, launched the drones, and both have repeatedly struck this road.
- The UN counts more than 500 civilians killed by drones between January and mid-March, and the toll is rising fastest in Kordofan.
- Attribution and independent investigation now stand as the only route toward accountability, and so far neither has arrived.
In a war that has run for nearly three years and is now drawing toward its fourth, the sky over Sudan has become a new instrument of ordinary death. On a Wednesday in late March, a drone struck a crowded market in Saraf Omra, a small town in North Darfur, and the fire from a parked oil truck spread through the stalls, taking the lives of at least 22 people, an infant among them. Elsewhere, on a highway in North Kordofan, a truck carrying civilians was hit in a similar way. The question of who launched these machines remains unanswered, and that uncertainty is itself part of the grim pattern: a war in which the people paying the price are often the least able to know who is watching them from above.
On Wednesday, a drone struck a market in Saraf Omra, a town in North Darfur that serves a remote stretch of land near the Chadian border. A parked oil truck was hit and burst into flames, and the fire ran through the stalls around it. A clinic worker told Agence France-Presse that 22 people were killed, among them an infant, and 17 more were wounded. A trader named Hamid Suleiman watched it happen and described how the blaze consumed the truck and the stalls beside it. It is still unclear whether the army or the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces sent the drone.
The same day, a second strike came on a highway in an army-held part of North Kordofan, a road that both sides have repeatedly targeted from the air. A truck carrying civilians was hit. At a hospital in El Rahad, staff received six bodies, three of them charred, along with ten wounded. The hospital source blamed the RSF.
Together the strikes killed at least 28 civilians, according to health workers, though the figures rest on medical staff speaking to the press, and responsibility for the market attack remains open.
The war began in April 2023 in Khartoum, when a struggle for power between the army and the RSF became open combat. More than 11.6 million people have fled their homes, and aid organisations describe it as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The UN says more than 500 people were killed by drones between January 1 and March 15, mostly in Kordofan. Those deaths sit alongside a strike on a hospital in East Darfur on March 20 that killed 64, which a Sudanese group documenting atrocities attributed to the army. What comes next depends on whether anyone can establish who sent these drones, and whether the attacks are ever investigated.
On Wednesday, a drone struck a market in Saraf Omra, a town in North Darfur state that serves a remote area near the border with Chad. A parked oil truck was hit and caught fire, and the flames spread through part of the market. A health worker at the local clinic told Agence France-Presse that 22 people were killed, an infant among them, and 17 more were injured.
Hamid Suleiman, a trader at the market, described what he saw: the drone hit the parked oil truck, which burned along with a section of the stalls around it. It was not immediately clear which side launched the drone, the army or the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The second strike came on a highway in an army-controlled part of North Kordofan, roughly 500 miles (800km) east of Darfur. The road runs east to west through the state capital, El Obeid, and on toward Darfur. Both the army and the RSF have repeatedly attacked it with drones. A truck carrying civilians was hit. A source at the hospital in El Rahad told AFP that six bodies arrived the day before, three of them charred, along with ten wounded people. The source blamed the RSF for the attack.
Together, the two strikes killed at least 28 civilians, according to health workers. The figures come from medical staff speaking to a news agency, and in the market attack the question of who is responsible remains open.
The war began on 15 April 2023 in Khartoum, when a power struggle between the army and the RSF turned into open fighting. It is now approaching its fourth year. More than 11.6 million people have been displaced out of a population of about 51 million, in what aid organisations call the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Large parts of the country are at risk of famine. Estimates of the dead range widely, from tens of thousands to more than 400,000. More than 10,000 people are believed to have been massacred by the RSF in El Fasher over two days in October 2025.
Drones have become a growing source of civilian deaths this year, according to the United Nations, especially in the Kordofan region. Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the UN high commissioner for human rights, said this week that more than 500 people were killed by drones between 1 January and 15 March.
One earlier strike stands out. On 20 March, a drone hit a hospital in East Darfur, killing 64 people and wounding 89, according to the World Health Organization. The Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese group that documents atrocities in the war, said it was an army drone.
What to watch now is attribution. The origin of the Saraf Omra strike is unestablished, and whether any of these attacks is investigated will shape how the UN's rising drone toll is understood.
Citações Notáveis
The drone hit a parked oil truck, which caught fire along with part of the market.— Hamid Suleiman, trader at the Saraf Omra market
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