Fatal attack on Sudanese kindergarten

A drone attack allegedly killed at least 50 people, including 33 children, on a kindergarten in the town of Kaloghi in Sudan’s South Kordofan region.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting the army in Sudan’s civil war, were accused on Thursday of carrying out the attack by medical groups, a network of Sudanese doctors and the army.

Reporters Without Borders had no immediate comment.

Médecins Sans Frontières, in turn, accused the army of launching a drone attack on an oil depot at the Adre border crossing with Chad in the Darfur region on Friday, targeting a market.

Sudan has been ravaged by war since April 2023, when a power struggle broke out between Forces Without Borders and the army, once allies.

These reports cannot be independently verified.

The kindergarten was hit twice by drone missiles, according to the military-aligned foreign ministry.

Civilians and medical personnel who rushed to the school were also attacked, the report added.

Responding to reports of the Kaloghi attack, a UNICEF spokesperson said: “The killing of children in schools is a horrific violation of children’s rights.”

“Children should never pay the price of conflict,” Sheldon Yetter added.

He said the agency urged “all parties to immediately cease these attacks and allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access to those in urgent need.”

Médecins Sans Frontières accused the army of attacking the Adre crossing because it was used “for the delivery of aid and commercial supplies”.

The attack caused civilian casualties and caused significant damage to markets, according to Sudan War Monitor, a group of researchers tracking the conflict.

The military had no immediate comment on the reports in Darfur.

Sandwiched between the Sudanese capital Khartoum and Darfur, the region, made up of the states of North, South and West Kordofan, has been a frontline in the civil war.

As troops advance into Darfur, fighting intensifies against the Kordofan people, who have a population of nearly eight million.