Sudanese accused the Egyptian army of carrying out air raids targeting gold mining sites near the shared border between the two countries, resulting in deaths, injuries, and missing persons, while holding the Khartoum government responsible for failing to protect civilians.
Mining workers who spoke to said that the attack occurred on Tuesday and targeted mining sites located in the vicinity of the Al-Uqaydat area, Al-Ansari market and Wadi Al-Ansari near the Sudanese-Egyptian border, which are areas that witness extensive traditional gold mining activity and employ thousands of miners coming from different states.
According to eyewitness accounts, the operation began with military aircraft flying overhead, followed by shelling that targeted traditional mining sites, including the wells where miners work and their temporary residences in the Al-Aqad border mine, resulting in casualties.
According to eyewitness accounts, the operation began with military aircraft flying overhead, followed by bombing that targeted traditional mining sites, including wells where miners worked.
Salman Markaz, a miner, told that the information available so far indicates that there are a number of dead, wounded and missing, explaining that access to the site is still difficult due to the security situation in the area.
The center accused the Sudanese government of failing to protect citizens in the border region. It stated that any security measures should have been coordinated with the relevant Sudanese authorities and that civilians working in the area should have been notified to avoid casualties.
He added that some miners were bombed while inside traditional mining wells, describing the scenes that followed the attack as “tragic”.
The Egyptian army was also accused of being behind the operation, with the statement that the nature of the aircraft involved in the attack indicated that they were regular military aircraft. The statement added that miners have not yet been able to fully access the bombing site to evacuate the victims and search for the missing.
Meanwhile, Fadel Abu Leila, a mining worker who was at the site when the attack occurred, said that the mine was directly bombed, resulting in casualties among the workers.
Activists and local groups on social media circulated videos and testimonies from inside the region that spoke of airstrikes targeting mining sites, while some videos showed a state of confusion and panic among workers following the attack.
Following the incident, the “Victims of War” organization held the Egyptian army fully responsible for the attack, and said in a statement that the operation resulted in the killing of a number of Sudanese miners inside Sudanese territory.
The Sudanese organization added that the victims come from different Sudanese states, noting that traditional mining sites attract workers from all over the country.
An organization called for an independent international investigation to uncover the circumstances of the incident and identify those responsible, demanding that the case be referred to the relevant international institutions.
She called for an independent international investigation to uncover the circumstances of the incident and identify those responsible, demanding that the case be referred to the relevant international institutions.
The “Darfur Victims Support Organization” also condemned what it described as the bombing that targeted Sudanese civilians working in artisanal mining, and demanded an urgent and transparent investigation and accountability for those involved in the incident.
The organization said that targeting civilians in mining areas constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and requires action from the relevant international bodies.
As of the time of this report, neither the Sudanese government nor the Egyptian authorities have issued any official statement regarding the accusations or the circumstances of the incident.
The attack comes amid repeated tensions in border mining areas over the past few months, particularly in the vicinity of Wadi al-Ansari and the al-Aqad mine near the Egyptian border.
Last March, the region witnessed clashes between Sudanese miners and Egyptian border guards, which, according to local accounts, resulted in deaths and injuries among the miners.
At that time, the Darfur Victims Advocacy Organization accused an Egyptian force of shooting at Sudanese miners inside Sudanese territory, noting that there were casualties and that tents and property belonging to artisanal miners were burned.
forces during the past months, which included burning vehicles and equipment used in traditional mining, as well as burning tents and firing shots to disperse workers in some sites near the border.
The Wadi al-Ansari area is one of the most prominent artisanal mining areas in northern Sudan, attracting large numbers of gold prospectors due to the area's richness in the precious metal.
Government estimates indicate that the number of people employed directly or indirectly in the artisanal mining sector ranges between one and two million.
In recent years, border mining areas have transformed into large-scale economic activity centers, with increasing numbers of workers in the traditional mining sector, which has become one of the most important sources of income for tens of thousands of Sudanese families.
Government estimates indicate that the number of people working directly or indirectly in the artisanal mining sector ranges between one and two million, distributed across dozens of sites spread throughout the Northern, River Nile, Red Sea, Darfur and Kordofan states.
Traditional mining contributes the largest share of gold production in Sudan, with the sector having been responsible for more than 80% of the country’s total gold production in recent years.
Thousands of young Sudanese rely on artisanal mining as a primary source of income, especially in light of the economic decline and high unemployment rates during the recent years of war.
Markets, service centers, and temporary residential camps are set up around traditional mining sites, meaning that any security incident in those areas has a direct impact on large numbers of workers and their families.
The miners pointed out that the rugged and unsafe desert nature of the border areas and the difficulty of communications and logistics hinder rescue operations and accurate counting of victims in the event of security incidents or collapses inside the mines.
The miners spoke of repeated operations carried out by the Egyptian border guard
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