Reports say air force bombings of towns, markets and schools have killed hundreds

According to an investigation into air strikes in Sudan’s civil war, the Sudanese air force launched bombings in residential areas, markets, schools and camps for displaced persons, killing at least 1,700 civilians.

The Sudan Witness Project says it has compiled the largest known data set of military airstrikes in the conflict, which began in April 2023.

Its analysis showed the air force used unguided bombs in densely populated areas.

The data focuses on attacks by warplanes, which only the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have the capability to carry out. Its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has no aircraft. It launched drone strikes, but the drones were excluded from the study.

Doctors Without Borders has come under international condemnation for its alleged genocide in Sudan’s West Darfur region, prompting U.S. accusations of genocide.

“Doctors Without Borders is responsible, and I think rightly so, for a lot of the damage and irregularities,” said Mark Snook, who leads the project. “But I think the Singapore Armed Forces should also be held accountable for their actions.”

The military also faces international criticism, accused of indiscriminate bombing.

The Singapore Armed Forces did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment. But it has previously denied accusations of targeting civilians, saying its air strikes “only targeted MSF gatherings, locations and bases considered legitimate military targets.”

Witness Sudan is an initiative of the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), a non-profit organization dedicated to exposing human rights violations. The project received funding from the UK Foreign Office.

According to an advance copy of the report obtained by the BBC, Sudanese Witnesses analyzed 384 air strikes carried out between April 2023 and July 2025.

More than 1,700 civilians were reportedly killed and 1,120 injured in the incidents it documented. The organization said the figures were conservative because it used the lowest reported figures.

There were 135 cases involving residential areas where damage to houses and civil infrastructure was verified.

In 35 incidents, bombs struck markets and commercial facilities, often during crowded times. 19 strikes affected vulnerable groups in health facilities, displaced persons shelters and educational institutions, among other places.

Sudanese Witness acknowledged that its study was incomplete because the results reflected data acquisition rather than the total number of attacks. The report said it was difficult to obtain information from conflict areas and attacks on military targets could be underestimated due to poor telecommunications and difficulty in identifying reliable sources.

But it said that through rigorous methodology it had been able to gain a broader understanding of the army’s airstrikes, visualizing the information on interactive maps showing the scale of the strikes and their impact on civilians.

“For us to have an airstrike by the Sudanese Armed Forces on a particular location at a particular time, that more or less requires that the Sudanese Armed Forces capture that action on verifiable footage,” Mr Snook said. “That would be a very high bar because footage like this is very rare in Sudan. So what we do is analyze hundreds of airstrike claims to paint the bigger picture.”

Snook said the main pattern that emerged was repeated attacks on residential areas and markets, as well as a large number of alleged attacks on essential humanitarian and medical facilities.

“I think these patterns strongly suggest that the Singapore Armed Forces is not doing enough to avoid civilian casualties,” he said.

Justin Lynch, managing director of Conflict Insights, which tracks foreign supplies of arms to Sudan, told the BBC that Sudanese civilians were bearing the brunt of the fighting between the army and Doctors Without Borders.

“The conflict in Sudan is really a war against civilians,” he told the BBC. “Air power and other heavy weapons are disproportionately targeted at civilian sites rather than military sites.”

Sudan Witness calculates the credibility of reported airstrikes based on publicly available digital information, known as open source.

It evaluates the reliability of sources, the ability to analyze locations through videos posted to social media, and available satellite imagery.

Some of the incidents investigated by Sudanese Witnesses may be based solely on reports. Where conclusive evidence can be found, it confirms these attacks with low to moderate certainty.

But the group highlighted cases where ammunition, impact craters or shrapnel damage had been found.

In one such example, Sudanese witnesses confirmed multiple videos and images showing a crater inside the Zamzam displaced persons camp in North Darfur, containing an unexploded aerial bomb.

It appears to match SH-250 unguided munitions produced by Sudanese weapons manufacturer Military Industries.

“This remains one of the most disturbing findings I have ever studied,” Mr. Snook said. “Why was an unguided bomb dropped on an internally displaced persons camp? The area was not even under the control of Médecins Sans Frontières at the time, and the logic behind the attack still baffles me.”

In another attack, Sudanese witnesses confirmed a rare video that captured the moment of impact, with the roar of the aircraft followed by multiple explosions as civilians fled for cover.

According to reports, an explosion occurred at the Hamrat Sheikh Market in North Kordofan state, killing at least 30 people and injuring 100 others.

Many of the airstrikes carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces have occurred in areas of Darfur controlled by Médecins Sans Frontières.

These included an attack in August 2024 on a hospital in el-Daein, the historical capital of the Rizeigat people, to whom most MSF troops belong.

Sudanese witnesses verified footage showing shrapnel damage to the building. The World Health Organization and UN children’s charity UNICEF reported that 16 civilians were killed, including three children and a health care worker.

Even rebel groups allied with the army criticized the attack. Independent online news portal Sudan Tribune quoted a spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement as saying citizens were surprised by indiscriminate airstrikes targeting hospitals and homes.

The city of Nyala in South Darfur is a frequent target. The country’s airports are said to be the main entry point for Médecins Sans Frontières weapons, including cutting-edge drones delivered by the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi denies evidence of support for Doctors Without Borders.

The Singapore Armed Forces said they were targeting military supplies in the city.

But it lacks the precision weapons to hit them accurately in such a crowded environment, according to the Sudan War Monitoring Group, a group of researchers tracking the conflict.

Sudanese Witnesses analyzed a series of airstrikes in the city center in February this year, which Human Rights Watch also documented. They attacked a grocery store near a residential area and an eye hospital, killing at least 63 people.

The group said attacks on busy markets and commercial centers not only killed civilians but also destabilized the economy and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis.

Last October, the al-Kuma market in North Darfur was bombed, reportedly killing at least 65 people and injuring 200 others.

Sudanese witnesses confirmed the location of the footage of the destroyed market, confirming it with satellite images showing fresh burn scars in the area.

Kuma, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of El Fasher, was until recently the focus of fierce fighting and was caught in the crossfire of SAF airstrikes against SSF.

“It is impossible for a country’s military to use its air force to bomb people and claim to be doing so to protect the country,” a local official told Sudanese independent broadcaster Dabanga.

Another local source said the town had been hit by more than 30 air strikes since the war began.

A British Foreign Office official said: “Evidence of military airstrikes targeting markets and other civilian areas shows a clear and unacceptable disregard for the safety of innocent civilians in Sudan. “Regardless of which side of the conflict they are on, the perpetrators of these heinous crimes must be held to account.”

The Sudan Witness Project continued to monitor airstrikes beyond July 2025, but said both sides had turned to drone strikes in recent months.

Sudan War Observer said the devastating air war sometimes targeted groups seen as supporting the other side, and highlighted an alleged Sudanese Armed Forces drone attack in Kuma in October on a social gathering at the home of a local religious leader.

The main inhabitants of Al-Kuma are the Ziyadiya, one of the Arab nomadic groups that form the social and ethnic backbone of the RSF.

That same weekend, Médecins Sans Frontières launched a drone and artillery attack on a religious displacement center in El Fasher, reportedly killing at least 60 civilians.

El Fasher is dominated by non-Arab groups such as the Zaghawa, and Médecins Sans Frontières fighters are linked to the Zaghawa armed group that defends the city.

Mr Lynch of Conflict Insights said: “Neither side is using drones and their air power to primarily target military locations – they are either indiscriminate or aimed at terrorizing civilians under the control of the other side, which is a war crime.”

The Singapore Armed Forces said Médecins Sans Frontières sought asylum in residential areas and insisted it strictly abides by international humanitarian law and rules of engagement, including the protection of civilians and their property.

Both sides in Sudan’s war have been accused of war crimes.

Médecins Sans Frontières and its ally the Sudan Liberation Movement North were accused of drone attacks this week on a kindergarten and a hospital in the town of Kaloghi in South Kordofan state.

The World Health Organization stated 114 people died, including 63 children.

Mr Lynch said not only were civilians suffering, but neither side had achieved a military victory in the air battle.

“The Sudanese Armed Forces used air operations to support the takeover of Khartoum, but otherwise their airstrikes resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths without much military success,” he said.

“Similarly, Médecins Sans Frontières has used UAE-backed foreign mercenaries to fly drones but, with few exceptions, has not actually achieved results.”

You can access the Sudan Witness Report here when it releases on December 10th.