Drone strike on Sudan border town kills at least 14: survivor, official

A drone strike blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed 14 people, mostly women, in Sudanese town of Al-Tina, on the border with Chad, a survivor of the attack and a government official told AFP on Tuesday. (X/@addisstandard)

• Locals who rushed to bury the dead “found 14 bodies at the bomb site, most of them women,” the survivor said
• Al-Tina on the border with Chad in the far west of the Darfur region

KHARTOUM: A drone strike blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed 14 people, mostly women, in the Sudanese town of Al-Tina, on the border with Chad, a survivor of the attack and a government official told AFP on Tuesday.
Locals who rushed to bury the dead “found 14 bodies at the bomb site, most of them women,” the survivor said, using a satellite Internet connection to circumvent a communications blackout.
Requesting anonymity for their safety, they said the attack on Monday “targeted a gathering of women selling food and tea in the Al-Tina market.”
Deadly attacks on civilian sites including markets are common in the war between Sudan’s army and the RSF, which since April 2023 has killed tens of thousands.
An exact toll is impossible to confirm but aid workers estimate over 200,000 people have been killed.
A government official confirmed the attack and said authorities were “working to tally the number of casualties.”
Al-Tina on the border with Chad in the far west of the Darfur region, has come under regular attack from the RSF this year.
The city is at imminent risk of famine, according to UN food security analysis, and thousands have fled across the border to Chad.
The paramilitary last year consolidated its control on the Darfur region, but the Joint Forces, a coalition of armed groups fighting alongside the army, maintains enclaves near the border, including Al-Tina.
Drone warfare has become an increasingly prominent feature of the war, with both sides deploying unmanned strikes across the country while keeping their depleted troops far from the frontlines.
Between January and April, at least 880 civilians were killed in drone strikes, according to the United Nations.
Now in its fourth year, the war has caused the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
In North Darfur state alone, where Al-Tina is located, 1.7 million people are displaced, and hundreds of thousands are on the brink of starvation.