Sudanese paramilitary forces killed at least 10 people Thursday in a drone attack that struck a hospital in the south-central part of the country, a medical organization said.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese militia, launched two drone strikes against Al-Jabalain Hospital in White Nile Province, hitting an operating theatre and a maternity ward.
These strikes, the latest in an escalating drone war between the army and the FSR, killed 10 people, including seven medical personnel, and wounded at least 19 others. The wounded were transferred to a hospital in Kosti, about 80 kilometers away, MSF said.
These strikes are the latest in a series of attacks on Sudan 's health system , which continues to be severely impacted by the ongoing war between the army and the Sudanese Forces (SFR), which erupted in April 2023. The World Health Organization stated in March that more than 200 attacks had targeted health facilities since the start of the war. Most recently, 70 people, including at least 13 children, were killed in an airstrike on a hospital in the Darfur region of western Sudan last month.
This conflict, which has been raging in Sudan for nearly three years, has claimed more than 40,000 lives, according to UN figures, but humanitarian organizations believe the true number could be much higher. "This attack is all the more appalling because it occurred during a children's vaccination campaign ," MSF said regarding the strike on the al-Jabalain hospital.
In addition, Emergency Lawyers , a local human rights organization, indicated on Thursday that the attacks had also targeted a medical supply depot in Rabak, the capital of White Nile province.
Emergency Lawyers stated that the "recurring pattern" of drone attacks carried out by warring parties since March in the provinces of South Kordofan , Blue Nile, East, Central and South Darfur had caused further population displacements.
On Friday, Khalid Aleisir, Minister of Culture, Information, Antiquities and Tourism, condemned the attack and called for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to be designated as a terrorist organization and for its members to be prosecuted.
"We also hold regional backers directly responsible for perpetuating this violent campaign through military and logistical support, including the provision of sophisticated weapons and drones, which have exacerbated the violence and targeted civilians ," he wrote on X.
The Sudan Doctors Network , a local group that monitors war violence, described the attack as a "deliberate assault on health facilities and unarmed civilians ," further aggravating the already declining health sector in the country.
“MSF is outraged by these repeated attacks on health facilities, which have dangerously escalated in recent weeks ,” said Esperanza Santos, MSF’s head of emergencies in Sudan, in a statement released Thursday by the organization. “Health facilities, medical staff, and patients must always be protected. We call on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to immediately end this spiral of violence against medical facilities.”
The resurgence of drone strikes in Sudan's Kordofan region has caused increasing civilian casualties and hampered humanitarian aid operations, analysts and aid workers have previously stated.
