Dozens of gold prospectors killed in air strikes near Sudan-Egypt border, rights group says

At least 72 civilians prospecting for gold have been killed in air strikes in Sudan's River Nile state near the border with Egypt, according to a regional rights group. Emergency Lawyers said jets hit artisanal mining camps on Saturday at popular gold sites in the border region. The group said the attack targeted unarmed civilians and could amount to war crimes.

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Emergency Lawyers, which is based in Khartoum, said the death toll was provisional and could rise. It said the strikes began around 06:00 local time, with aircraft firing more than five missiles directly at miners' camps. The group said the blasts destroyed the camps and excavation pits with people still inside.

Neither the Egyptian government nor the de facto Sudanese authorities had commented by the time of the report. The rights group said the attack was not an isolated incident and referred to previous alleged strikes on similar mining sites in the same region. It said earlier attacks had already shown a lack of control over the area and amounted to a violation of Sudan's sovereign territory.

The Paris-based Sudan Tribune also reported claims that the death toll could be higher, citing a survivor who said many more people had been injured. The incident comes against the backdrop of Sudan's civil war, which has driven more civilians into artisanal mining in remote border areas. Artisanal mining is typically carried out with rudimentary tools and without official permission, making workers vulnerable in areas where state authority is weak.

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Gold-rich parts of River Nile state lie along porous borders and have long been linked to security concerns, including efforts to curb illegal mining and other cross-border activity. The report also recalled earlier allegations that Egyptian forces had used drones and artillery against artisanal mining sites in the same region in June, killing several people. It said those claims followed sporadic incidents in which border guards allegedly burned equipment, torched temporary shelters and fired live ammunition to disperse mine workers.

Days later, Egypt's border agency said it and the military had begun a sweeping security campaign along the border to stop illegal migration, drug smuggling and illegal mining. What remains unclear is the full scale of the casualties and who carried out the strikes. The rights group said its figures were still being verified, and no official response had been given by the authorities mentioned in the report.

The next developments to watch are whether either side confirms the attack, whether the death toll rises, and whether any investigation is announced.

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