ABYEI: A drone strike on a crowded market in Abyei, a border region disputed by Sudan and South Sudan, killed at least 153 people, a local official said. The strike set off a fire that was still burning the next day.
Yohanna Akol Ngor, the caretaker information minister of the Abyei administration, blamed Sudan's military for Monday's attack on Amiet Market, north of Abyei town. He said the toll rose from 73 to 153 as the fire spread, and told The Associated Press the situation was horrible and shocking.
The strike hit around 11 am and struck a fuel depot that supplied local businesses, Ngor said. He told Radio Tamazuj that the market lies about 10 km from Abyei town.
A military source told the BBC that the army had carried out the attack, saying the market was a fuel supply site for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Sudan's military did not respond to requests for comment, but has said it does not attack civilians even when it believes RSF fighters are present.
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said more than 20 wounded people were brought to Ameth Bek Hospital. Its teams worked there alongside South Sudan's health ministry staff. Several patients were in critical condition and some had burns, said Christian Lindauer, the charity's medical activities manager at the hospital.
A witness who asked not to be named said he heard five large explosions that set a nearby fuel depot on fire. He said he saw 28 burnt bodies at one site.
BBC Verify said satellite images showed extensive burnt buildings in the north-east corner of the market, also known as Al-Na'am Market. It verified footage showing a large plume of smoke and a petrol tanker, and a trader said the market was completely destroyed.
South Sudan's foreign ministry also blamed Sudan's military and summoned Sudan's ambassador to protest. It urged Sudan to refrain from actions that endanger civilian lives and called for Abyei issues to be settled through diplomatic channels.
The attack was part of a wider wave of drone strikes. In West Kordofan on Sunday evening, a truck carrying about 200 mourners was hit as it arrived in Al-Dabab, killing 145 people, the Sudan War Observatory said.
The monitoring group said five others died when a funeral tent was struck and about 150 people were injured, and that army drones also bombed a market in Al-Mujlad. It put the Sunday toll in West Kordofan at 150 and said the strikes were likely launched from the army-held city of Kadugli in South Kordofan.
The Guardian reported that a strike on Sunday killed 80 people near a market in the state. It said an attack on a market in the RSF stronghold of Nyala killed 23 people on Friday. A separate drone strike near Khartoum airport on Monday killed four people, including three children, the AFP news agency reported, quoting a medical source.
Abyei is jointly administered by Sudan and South Sudan, which have both claimed the oil-rich region since South Sudan became independent in 2011. Its status was left unresolved by a 2005 peace agreement, and a proposed referendum stalled over who could vote.
Amiet Market serves the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya communities. The majority Ngok Dinka population favours joining South Sudan, while Misseriya nomads who use its pastures favour Sudan. United Nations peacekeepers have been deployed in Abyei since 2011.
Sudan's military and the RSF have been fighting since April 2023. The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced more than 14 million from their homes. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said he was alarmed by the deadly strikes. He warned that 20 million people faced acute hunger, with a rising risk of famine in Darfur and Greater Kordofan.
(With inputs from PTI)