At least 40 dead and 25 injured in a drone attack attributed to paramilitaries in South Sudan

The attack took place late Tuesday night in areas northwest of Dilling, where a projectile hit a sports club near Transportation Corps headquarters, killing at least 40 people and wounding another 25, according to the sources, who requested anonymity.

Some of the injured were taken to the military hospital, while others were taken to Dilling University Hospital, they said, adding thatThere were also casualties among the Army soldiers at the Transportation Corps headquarters, but the exact number is unknown, as the area was cordoned off and access to civilians was prohibited.

Following the attack, security authorities immediately suspended Starlink satellite internet servicewhich made it difficult to obtain accurate and up-to-date information on the number of civilian casualties.

This action comes at a time of continued military escalation in South Kordofan, amid fears that expanding fighting will further aggravate the humanitarian situation in the state.

Two years of siege

The FAR and the rebel group Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), allied to the paramilitaries, have been besieging Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan state, and Dilling for more than two years, and since then fighting has not stopped in the area on the roads leading to the two cities.

Yesterday, Tuesday, SPLM-N announced that its forces together with the FAR “They took control of the areas of Kiga al Taqatoa, Al Balf, and Hajar Dleibaof strategic importance in the state of South Kordofan” within the framework of its operations to continue advancing in that vast southern state of Sudan.

After the capture of the city of Al Fasher, capital of North Darfur, the FAR has taken over almost all of Darfur and is now focusing its military campaign on the neighboring region of Kordofan, to the east, where the Sudanese Army is trying to contain the advance of the paramilitaries in this strategic area that would give them access to the north and east of the country.

The war in Sudan that began in April 2023 has led to the death of tens of thousands of people, the displacement of more than 13 million and more than half of the population facing acute levels of food insecurity, according to the UN.