By Correspondent
Sudan’s brutal conflict has taken another devastating turn after a drone strike on a civilian neighbourhood in North Darfur killed a dozen innocent people, most of them schoolchildren, in what activists are calling a deliberate assault on non-combatants.
KUTUM, North Darfur – A drone attack on the paramilitary-controlled town of Kutum in Sudan’s embattled North Darfur region has left 12 civilians dead, among them six children, including three female secondary school students, according to medical sources and local pro-democracy activists.
The strike, which occurred on Wednesday, targeted the Al-Salama neighbourhood, located near the Al-Um Girls’ School, a civilian hub in a town already reeling from months of relentless violence. The El-Fasher Resistance Committee, a prominent pro-democracy group monitoring human rights abuses in the region, has squarely blamed the Sudanese army for the assault. The army has yet to issue an official response.
A medical source at a hospital in Kutum, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, confirmed the grim toll to AFP, which was reviewed by Elanza News. “We received 12 bodies, including six children. Three of those children were secondary school girls. Sixteen others are injured – women and children among them – and are receiving treatment,” the source said.
The attack marks a dramatic escalation in the use of aerial drone technology in Sudan’s now 23-month-old civil war, a conflict that has already spawned what the United Nations describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
A War Entering Its Third Year
Since April 2023, Sudan has been locked in a bitter power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The war erupted after the collapse of a internationally-backed transition to civilian rule, plunging the nation into chaos.
While the RSF controls large swathes of Darfur, including Kutum, the army has retained air superiority and has increasingly turned to armed drones to strike deep behind enemy lines. However, human rights organisations and UN investigators have repeatedly warned that such strikes, when conducted in densely populated urban areas, amount to indiscriminate attacks that violate international humanitarian law.
According to the UN, drone attacks alone killed more than 500 civilians between January and mid-March of this year alone. In a recent briefing, UN officials decried “the devastating impact of high-tech and relatively cheap weapons in populated areas”, noting that drones have become the weapon of choice for both warring parties.
A Region Under Siege
North Darfur, the historical heartland of the infamous Darfur genocide of the early 2000s, has once again become a theatre of unspeakable horrors. The town of Kutum, a commercial and agricultural hub, has changed hands multiple times but is currently under RSF control. Civilians trapped there face a daily reality of artillery shelling, sniper fire, and now, aerial bombardment.
The Al-Salama neighbourhood, where Wednesday’s strike occurred, is a predominantly residential area with no known military installations in its immediate vicinity, according to local activists. The presence of Al-Um Girls’ School nearby suggests that the attackers either possessed faulty intelligence or deliberately targeted a civilian zone.
“These were children returning from school or playing near their homes,” said a local activist who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. “There is no military target here. This is a massacre, pure and simple.”
The Human Cost of Sudan’s Forgotten War
While global attention remains focused on conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, Sudan’s catastrophe has unfolded with shocking speed and severity. More than 11 million people have been internally displaced or forced to flee across borders, creating a humanitarian emergency of staggering proportions. Over 25 million people – more than half the country’s population – face acute food insecurity, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
The UN has repeatedly warned that parts of Darfur are already experiencing famine-like conditions, with children dying of malnutrition even before bombs and drones find them.
Medical facilities in RSF-controlled areas like Kutum operate with virtually no supplies, no electricity, and under constant threat of attack. The hospital that received the victims of Wednesday’s drone strike has been overwhelmed multiple times this year, doctors say.
Who Is Responsible?
The El-Fasher Resistance Committee, one of the last functioning pro-democracy networks in Darfur, was unequivocal in its condemnation. “The SAF drone strike on Al-Salama neighbourhood in Kutum is a war crime. Six children are dead. Three of them were schoolgirls. The world must act,” the group said in a statement.
The Sudanese army has previously denied targeting civilians, insisting that its operations focus exclusively on RSF positions and logistics. However, satellite imagery and on-the-ground reporting have repeatedly contradicted these claims, documenting widespread civilian casualties from aerial bombardments in RSF-held towns.
The RSF, for its part, has been accused of ethnic cleansing, sexual violence, and looting across Darfur. In June 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it was investigating new war crimes allegations against both sides.
International Response: Silence or Paralysis?
As of Thursday morning, no major Western government or international body had issued a formal condemnation of the Kutum drone strike. The UN Security Council, deeply divided over Sudan, has failed to pass a binding resolution demanding a ceasefire since the war began.
The African Union has called for dialogue, while the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has struggled to broker peace talks. Meanwhile, regional powers continue to supply weapons and political support to the warring factions, prolonging the bloodshed.
Human rights groups argue that the continued supply of drones and precision-guided munitions to Sudan’s military, including from countries that publicly profess commitment to civilian protection, makes them complicit in war crimes.
What Happens Next?
With no end to the conflict in sight, civilians in Darfur face an increasingly impossible choice: remain in RSF-controlled towns and risk drone strikes, or flee across dangerous frontlines to overcrowded and under-resourced displacement camps.
For the families of the six children killed in Kutum, the future is one of unimaginable grief. In a town where most residents survive on less than one meal a day, burial will be a luxury.
One resident, who lost his niece in the strike, told Elanza News by satellite phone: “We are not soldiers. We are not RSF. We are just people trying to live. Why do they kill our children? Why does the world watch?”
A Call for Accountability
Legal experts say that the deliberate targeting of civilians or launching indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The ICC already has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Darfur since 2005, and its prosecutor has indicated that the current conflict falls within the court’s mandate.
However, with Sudan’s government refusing to cooperate and the ICC lacking enforcement powers, accountability remains a distant hope for victims.
How You Can Help
Several humanitarian organisations continue to operate in Sudan despite immense danger. The Sudanese Red Crescent, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and the UN World Food Programme are all appealing for funds to support medical care and food distribution in Darfur. Donations can be made through their official websites.
Conclusion
The drone strike on Kutum is not an isolated tragedy but a symptom of a war that has abandoned all pretence of protecting civilians. As the conflict enters its third year, the international community’s failure to act has cost thousands of innocent lives – including six children who will never return to their classrooms.
