Drone strikes home in El Obeid, killing 13 children, medics say

A drone attack on a house in the Sudanese city of Obeid killed at least 13 people, including eight children, the Sudanese Doctors Network said.

The medical team added that most of the deceased were members of the same family.

Although no group claimed responsibility, medics said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out the attack in an area controlled by the army, which has been trying to infiltrate for months.

The civil war between Sudanese troops and Armed Forces Without Borders rebels has entered its third year, with the United Nations and aid agencies describing it as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

To date, more than 11 million people have been forced from their homes due to violence, and hundreds of thousands have been killed. Widespread sexual violence is also used as a weapon of war.

Both Doctors Without Borders and the Sudanese Armed Forces have been accused of atrocities.

Witnesses said Monday’s drone attack on El Obeid’s house took place in a residential area.

Sudan Doctors Network says It “reflects a dangerous escalation in indiscriminate killings and a policy of systematic bombing of safe residential areas”.

While Doctors Without Borders advances elsewhere in North Kordofan, the city of El Obeid remains under army control.

Analysts say the area is a key target for SSF because of its strategic location between the Sudanese capital Khartoum and the Darfur region, where they have established a parallel government and have been accused of genocide.

The attack came just days after Médecins Sans Frontières attacked a power plant in Obeid, with the military claiming MSF drones were trying to hit the country’s largest hydroelectric dam near the northern town of Merowe.