Sudan drone strike hits funeral procession in el-Obeid, killing at least four

A drone strike has hit a funeral procession at a cemetery in the Sudanese city of el-Obeid, killing at least four people and injuring several others. Two rights groups said the attack took place as mourners gathered at the burial site. They blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for the strike.

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Emergency Lawyers said the cemetery attack was part of a series of drone strikes that began on Wednesday evening and left at least 23 people dead in total. The group said drones also struck homes in a residential neighbourhood, the airport district and areas around an army base. Sudan Doctors Network and Emergency Lawyers both said civilians were among the dead and injured in the latest attacks.

The groups said 13 civilians were killed in one set of strikes as people gathered near destroyed houses, while five civilians were killed in earlier attacks. They also reported that a lorry driver carrying food supplies died on Thursday after his vehicle was hit. A resident described roofs collapsing on occupants after the strikes, underlining the scale of the damage in the city.

El-Obeid is held by the army and sits in Sudan's oil-rich Kordofan region, which has become a major front line in the country's three-year civil war. The city lies between areas controlled by the RSF in the west and territory where the army is mostly in charge in the east. That makes it strategically important for movement, supply lines and access to the wider region.

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The war began after the leaders of the army and the RSF fell out over the future direction of the country. Since then, the conflict has created what aid agencies describe as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 11 million people forced from their homes and 28 million facing acute hunger. Reliable figures for the death toll are not available, but it is thought to be at least 50,000.

What remains unclear is whether there will be any independent confirmation of responsibility for the el-Obeid strikes, and whether the reported toll will rise as more information emerges. It is also not clear how long the drone attacks on the city will continue or whether they signal a wider shift in the fighting around Kordofan. The next developments to watch are any official military response, further casualty updates and whether access to the affected areas allows for verification of the damage.

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