Deadly drone strikes in Nyala, South Darfur, have triggered renewed alarm over civilian safety in Sudan, after a busy market and a nearby residential area were hit amid the country’s ongoing war.

The attacks took place on Monday, October 26, in Nyala, a city controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese rights group monitoring the conflict, reported that more than 100 people were killed and 113 injured. Many of the reported victims were women and children.

However, the casualty figures remain disputed. Sudan Doctors Network released a lower preliminary toll, while Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said a hospital it supports received 36 bodies and treated more than 150 injured people following the attacks.

The Sudanese military was blamed for the market strike by Emergency Lawyers, but the circumstances and full casualty toll could not be independently verified. A military-linked spokesperson described a separate strike as targeting RSF recruits.

The attacks highlight the growing danger posed by drone warfare to civilians in Sudan. Markets, homes and essential infrastructure have increasingly been caught in the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, which has been at war since April 2023.

Humanitarian organisations have called for civilians to be protected and for attacks on civilian sites to be investigated. With millions of people already displaced by the conflict, further violence threatens to deepen shortages of food, healthcare and other essential services.

The situation in Nyala remains serious, and independent verification of the full death toll and responsibility for individual strikes is still needed.