War Reaches the Wards as Drone Attack Kills Seven in Sudan Hospital

By: Chioma Madonna Ndukwu

War Reaches the Wards as Drone Attack Kills Seven in Sudan Hospital

At least seven civilians were killed and 12 others wounded on Sunday after a drone strike struck a military-run hospital in Dilling, a southern Sudanese city that has been under siege for months, according to a medical worker at the facility.

The source said those killed were patients and relatives who had sought care at the hospital, which serves civilians from Dilling and nearby communities alongside military personnel. The health worker spoke anonymously for security reasons.

Dilling is located in South Kordofan, one of the regions hardest hit by Sudan’s ongoing war. Although the city remains under the control of the Sudanese army, it has been encircled by rival paramilitary forces, cutting residents off from food, medicine and humanitarian aid.

Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF, together with allied factions including a wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, controls large parts of the wider Kordofan region.

Sunday’s attack came just a day after another drone strike targeted a United Nations peacekeeping base in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, killing six Bangladeshi peacekeepers and heightening fears over the safety of both civilians and international personnel.

The United Nations has warned that residents of Dilling are facing famine-like conditions, though limited access to the area has made it difficult to formally declare a famine.

Across Sudan, the war has claimed tens of thousands of lives, forced about 12 million people from their homes, and triggered what aid agencies describe as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis.

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Chioma Ndukwu

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