At least 28 Sudanese civilians were killed on Tuesday, and many others were left injured following a drone strike on a busy market in West Kordofan, a Sudan-based human rights group has reported.
In a statement on X, the Emergency Lawyers Group reported that the attack at Ghabish Market was allegedly carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which they hold responsible for the losses. According to the rights group, the attack targeted a key supply centre that many people in West Kordofan and nearby areas rely on for essential food and goods.
“This attack constitutes a continuation of a policy based on using collective pressure as a tool through intimidation and starvation, while imposing food scarcity and soaring prices for basic commodities,” the group said.
“The Emergency Lawyers Group holds the army fully responsible for this crime and considers that the facts of this attack create direct legal responsibility and constitute additional elements in a record of accumulating violations."
The latest development comes alongside a new United Nations (UN) report highlighting the growing role of drones in Sudan’s war and the increasing hardship faced by civilians in the country.
According to the UN, drone strikes were responsible for more than 80 per cent of civilian deaths in Sudan’s war in the first four months of 2026, killing at least 880 people. Most of these deaths, recorded between January and April, occurred in the Kordofan region, where the impact of the conflict has been especially severe. Another fresh assessment by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also shows a worrying rise in drone strikes, with 138 recorded in 2025 compared to just two the year before.
Both the SAF and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been accused of using drones in the fighting, raising concerns about the rising toll on civilians caught in the conflict.
“This increasing reliance on drones allows hostilities to continue unabated in the approaching rainy season, which in the past has brought about a lull in ground operations,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said last week.
According to Türk, the violence could spread even further in the coming weeks as the parties seek to gain or consolidate control of territory amid shifting conflict dynamics.
“This must not be allowed to happen. The international community is on notice that, unless action is taken without delay, this conflict is on the cusp of entering yet another new, even deadlier phase,” he said.
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