Drone strike on Kordofan University dormitory in El-Obeid kills 5, wounds 47

Mixed · 2A drone strike on a dormitory at Kordofan University in the central Sudanese city of El-Obeid on Wednesday killed five people and injured 47, according to the Sudan Doctors Network and, separately, the Emergency Lawyers group. 1 2 Centre · 1Anadolu Agency reported that the Sudan Doctors Network, which it described as an independent medical group, attributed the strike to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and gave the toll as initial. 1 Right · 1AFP, in a report carried by Arab News, said the Emergency Lawyers group, a Sudanese rights organisation that monitors abuses in the war, described the dormitory as being used to house students and civilians, and did not say who was responsible. 2

Centre · 1The Sudan Doctors Network called the attack a serious violation of international humanitarian law and warned of "a worrying escalation in attacks on civilian and public-service facilities"; it urged the UN and humanitarian and human rights bodies to condemn such attacks, hold those responsible accountable and support an urgent medical response. 1 Centre · 1There was no immediate RSF comment on the dormitory strike; Anadolu says the RSF generally does not directly address accusations of targeting civilian facilities and says it works "to protect civilians". 1 Right · 1AFP reported a second strike a day later, when a drone hit a centre sheltering families displaced from across Kordofan, killing five and injuring 13, according to a North Kordofan government official and a local hospital medical source; the official accused the RSF, which did not immediately respond, bringing the week's reported toll in El-Obeid to at least 10. 2

Mixed · 2El-Obeid, capital of North Kordofan state, has faced repeated drone attacks; on 20 September the Sudan Doctors Network said two people were killed and 20 injured when RSF drones hit residential areas, and AFP calls the city a key battleground because it sits at a crossroads linking central and western Sudan. 1 2 Right · 1Context from AFP: both the army and the RSF increasingly use drones, which killed more than 1,100 people in the first five months of this year according to UN figures; the UN issued a "red alert" over Kordofan in July, and more than 300,000 people have been displaced from the region since the RSF captured El-Fasher. 2 Mixed · 2The war between the army and the RSF began in April 2023; Anadolu says it has left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, while AFP cites aid workers' estimates of more than 200,000 killed and more than 13 million displaced. 1 2