Drone attack by paramilitary group in Sudan kills 24, including 8 children, doctors' group says

A drone attack by a notorious paramilitary group hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group said.

The attack by the Rapid Support Forces occurred close to the city of Rahad in North Kordofan province, said the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war.

The vehicle transported displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area of North Kordofan, the doctors’ group said in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants, the group said.

The doctors’ group urged the international community and rights organizations to “take immediate action to protect civilians and hold the RSF leadership directly accountable for these violations.”

There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been at war against the Sudanese military for control of the country for about three years.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Denise Brown, said she came across the aftermath of the strike, including burning aid trucks, after visiting El-Obeid-  a city under army control but encircled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for a year.

She said she was "deeply concerned" by the attack and called for the protection of humanitarian personnel, assets and supplies.

Emergency Lawyers, an independent organisation documenting war crimes in Sudan, also said the convoy, contracted by the World Food Programme, had been attacked, and accused the RSF of carrying out the strike.

More than 21 million people -- nearly half of Sudan's population -- face high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the United Nations.

Fighting in Sudan is now concentrated in the Kordofan region, after the RSF took control of Darfur to the west. El-Obeid lies on the main road linking Darfur with the capital Khartoum.