Emergency Lawyers reported that at least five people were killed when a drone attack struck a civilian vehicle on the outskirts of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, on Saturday morning. The rights group said the vehicle was traveling from the White Nile province toward Omdurman, the sister city of the capital.
The attack occurred as Sudan’s long-running conflict between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces continues into its third year. Emergency Lawyers said the incident showed continued harm to civilians on public roads and in populated areas, despite a period when Khartoum had been spared much of the fighting.
Emergency Lawyers said the drone strike hit “a vehicle that was traveling from the White Nile province to Omdurman,” according to a statement it issued. The group did not cite additional details about the passengers or where the vehicle was struck beyond the location on Khartoum’s outskirts.
The Rapid Support Forces did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack, according to the Associated Press report. The rights group, however, condemned the strike and held RSF responsible.
Emergency Lawyers said in its statement that “What happened was a brazen violation of international humanitarian law,” describing the attack as unlawful under international humanitarian norms. The group’s account added to broader rights and aid reporting that civilians continue to face lethal dangers as the fighting spreads and escalates.
Khartoum has seen sporadic strikes in recent months, after RSF attacks were more limited following the Sudanese Armed Forces’ recapture of the capital last year. The Associated Press report said the city had been “largely … spared” before that shift, even as other parts of Sudan have remained sites of intense violence.
The war that began in April 2023 has killed at least 59,000 people, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, an independent conflict-monitoring organization cited by the Associated Press. Aid groups, the report added, say the real death toll could be much higher because access to many areas of fighting remains limited.