Sudanese air defences intercepted multiple drones over parts of the capital on Tuesday, with residents reporting loud explosions across Khartoum North and Omdurman.
According to the Sudan Tribune, anti-aircraft systems were activated across Khartoum state following the attacks, with drones detected over several densely populated districts. Witnesses reported hearing loud explosions in the sky over northern Khartoum North and northwestern Omdurman, where several military sites are located.
The drones were believed to be operated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and were aimed at strategic sites, including positions in and around Omdurman.
No casualties were immediately reported, and neither the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) nor the RSF has issued formal statements on the reported strikes.
According to the United Nations (UN), drone strikes accounted for the vast majority of civilian deaths in Sudan’s conflict in the first four months of 2026, with at least 880 people killed during that period. Drones were responsible for more than 80 per cent of those fatalities.
Most of the civilian deaths linked to the attacks were recorded in the Kordofan region, which remains one of the hardest-hit areas in the war. However, the UN says, drone operations by both sides have expanded beyond the main fighting zones in Kordofan and Darfur, with their use reported in other regions, including Blue Nile, White Nile and Khartoum.
“Armed drones have now become by far and away the leading cause of civilian deaths. 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 month.
The conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has escalated into one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, leaving tens of thousands of people dead and forcing millions of others from their homes.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Sudan was the world’s most neglected displacement crisis in 2025, with millions of people facing hunger and mass displacement amid what humanitarian officials say is a widening gap between need and international response.
More than 9 million people, NRC says, have been displaced within Sudan and up to 4 million have fled to neighbouring countries, while nearly 19.5 million people are facing acute hunger inside the country.
“It is incomprehensible that a displacement crisis of similar proportions to the crises in Syria and Ukraine at their peak can continue to worsen almost unnoticed,” NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland said last week.
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