Drone strikes on Sudanese city of el-Obeid kill at least 23 people
A series of drone strikes on the Sudanese city of el-Obeid, including one targeting a funeral procession at a cemetery, killed at least 23 people and wounded 19 others, according to rights groups and hospital officials. Rights group Emergency Lawyers and the Sudan Doctors Network blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has not commented or claimed responsibility. The attacks highlight the growing role of drone warfare in Sudan's three-year civil war and the mounting civilian toll in the strategically vital Kordofan region.
Drone strikes struck multiple locations across el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state in central Sudan, killing at least 23 people and wounding 19 others, according to the rights group Emergency Lawyers and health officials at el-Obeid Hospital. Targets included a funeral procession at a cemetery, residential neighborhoods, the airport district, areas near an army base, and a truck transporting food supplies. Emergency Lawyers and the Sudan Doctors Network both attributed the attacks to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group that has partially encircled the city, though the RSF has not responded to the allegations. El-Obeid sits at a strategic crossroads between RSF-controlled territory in the west and army-held areas in the east, making control of the Kordofan region — and its oil supply — a central prize in the conflict. The strikes are part of a broader escalation of drone warfare: the United Nations reported in May that at least 880 civilians had been killed in drone strikes nationwide between January and April 2025 alone. Sudan's civil war, which erupted in April 2023 between the military government and the RSF, has now displaced nearly 13 million people and left 28 million facing acute hunger, constituting what the UN calls the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.
What's missing
Neither source clarifies the RSF's military rationale or stated objectives for operations in the el-Obeid area, nor do they detail what international or diplomatic pressure, if any, is being applied to halt civilian-targeting drone strikes by either party.
How coverage differed
BBC framed the story with greater emphasis on the broader humanitarian catastrophe and the strategic significance of Kordofan, while Al Jazeera placed more weight on the immediate casualty figures, the divergence between rights group and hospital counts, and the recent pattern of drone strikes by both sides — including a strike on an RSF-controlled town days earlier.
What different sources said
- Al JazeeraLeft
Drone strikes on central Sudanese city kill up to 23: NGO
- BBC WorldCenter
Deadly Sudan drone strike targets funeral procession
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