Airstrike Kills More Than 100 at Nyala Market

A Monday strike on a market in Nyala killed more than 100 people, the rights group Emergency Lawyers reported, and 113 others were wounded. Most of the dead were women and children. The city sits in South Darfur, where the Rapid Support Forces operate as the de facto authority.

Two witnesses told the Associated Press that hundreds of RSF fighters had assembled at the market that evening. A cigarette vendor said he moved his stall between groups of fighters to keep selling, and that a drone hit at about 8pm, killing dozens of fighters along with women selling food. A second witness, who was not named, described a large blast that killed many fighters and estimated about 14 civilians died, mostly women who sold tea and food.

The army-aligned side offered a different account. Mohamed Didan, spokesperson for the Special Operations Forces, wrote on Facebook that more than 150 'militia recruits' were killed at Dumaya camp, west of Nyala, in what he called a 'precise and targeted air strike.' The Sudan Doctors Network, whose statement was delayed by difficulty reaching sources in Nyala amid active operations, reported 21 dead and more than 40 wounded, saying shelling caused most of those deaths. None of the figures could be confirmed independently.

Doctors Without Borders said a second strike struck a civilian area after the market attack. A hospital the group supports in Nyala received 36 bodies in the hours that followed, 21 of them in civilian clothing, and its teams treated more than 150 wounded people in the emergency room. The organization called the strikes 'appalling' and said 'markets, homes, and key civilian infrastructure are not targets.' Mubarak Bekheit, a Darfur aid worker, said some bodies remained in homes because the strike hit a civilian neighborhood.

The war between the RSF and the Sudanese army is now in its fourth year. The United Nations has reported that drone strikes are the leading cause of civilian deaths in Sudan, where parts of the country are in famine. In RSF-controlled Nyala, the share of children treated for severe acute malnutrition rose from 5 percent in January to 11 percent in August, according to UN estimates released this month.