Sudan: Drone attack on North Darfur hospital kills 70

(Photo: Social Media)

A drone attack on the only functional hospital in the Sudanese city of El Fasher has killed about 70 people and injured 19, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday.

"The attack comes at a time when access to health care is already severely constrained in the state due to the closure of health facilities following intense bombardments," he said in a post on X.

"Above all, Sudan's people need peace. The best medicine is peace," he added.

Local officials reported the attack on the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, on Saturday, citing a similar death toll.

Who was behind the attack? 

Local authorities blamed the strike on the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is fighting the Sudanese military and allied forces.

The paramilitary group has seized nearly the entire vast western region of Darfur since April 2023.

UN official Clementine Nkweta-Salami, who coordinates humanitarian efforts in Sudan, said that the RSF had given a 48-hour ultimatum to the Sudanese Armed Forces to vacate El Fasher.

The city has been under siege by the RSF since May 2024, but groups aligned with the Sudanese military had recently pushed back.

The army, under chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has made significant progress against the RSF in recent months.

Earlier this month, the United States announced sanctions against Burhan and also against his rival, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who heads the RSF.

Civil war in Sudan

Sudan has been embroiled in a war since April 2023.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 12 million and driven hundreds of thousands into famine.

More than 24.6 million people — around half of Sudan's population — face "high levels of acute food insecurity," according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative, backed by the United Nations.