Devastating Drone Strikes Kill 23 Civilians in Strategic Sudanese City of El Obeid.

Jun 12 2026, Friday 

A relentless series of drone strikes has left at least 23 civilians dead and 19 others injured in the strategic city of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State in western Sudan. Local volunteer groups, human rights advocates, and eyewitnesses confirmed the heavy casualties on Thursday, marking one of the deadliest aerial assaults on the city since the country's civil conflict erupted.

The targeted aerial campaign, which began Wednesday evening and extended into Thursday morning, struck residential neighborhoods, a funeral procession, and a commercial food transport vehicle. The non-governmental pro-democracy group, Emergency Lawyers, which extensively tracks wartime atrocities, has blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for executing the devastating strikes.

Double-Tap Strikes and Funeral Attacks Explode Casualty Toll

The bombardment was carried out in multiple waves, deliberately hitting civilian gatherings and rescue operations, which dramatically increased the death toll:

• Initial Assault: The first wave of drone strikes hit a central residential neighborhood on Wednesday evening, instantly killing five civilians and wounding 12 others.

• Targeting Mourners: In a grim turn of events, a subsequent drone strike targeted the Dalil Cemetery, hitting a gathering of grief-stricken residents who had assembled for the funerals of the initial victims. This attack killed four more civilians and injured seven.

• Morning Bombardment: On Thursday morning, further drone strikes pounded the Al-Muwazzafeen and Al-Matar neighborhoods, alongside residential zones surrounding the Sudanese Armed Forces' (SAF) Fifth Infantry Division headquarters, claiming 13 more civilian lives.

• Supply Line Interception: A separate dawn strike hit a supply truck carrying essential food items at the southern entrance of El Obeid, killing the driver on the spot.

Scenes of Total Devastation

The strikes have caused widespread infrastructure destruction across the partially encircled city. Terrified residents described scenes of chaos and horror as entire families were buried under pulverized concrete.

"The roofs of houses completely collapsed on top of the people inside," one resident from the Al-Matar neighborhood told reporters under anonymity. "When you look at the rubble of some of these homes, it feels completely impossible that anyone could have survived."

A local medical source confirmed that the bodies of a woman and her two young children were among those brought to the El Obeid Teaching Hospital. Rights groups have fiercely condemned the operation, stating that the RSF showed a blatant disregard for international humanitarian laws by failing to distinguish between military targets and civilian infrastructure.

A Escalating Humanitarian Crisis

The RSF has not yet released an official statement regarding the accusations. El Obeid remains a critical administrative and military stronghold for the Sudanese Army, making it a frequent target for the paramilitary forces seeking to expand their territorial footprint in the Kordofan region.

The conflict in Sudan, which began in mid-April 2023 between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s military and Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo’s RSF, has plunged the nation into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced millions into displacement. The United Nations recently highlighted a terrifying surge in drone warfare across the country, noting that unmanned aerial vehicles killed at least 880 civilians in the first four months of this year alone.

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