Drone strike near a Sudanese market kills 80, mostly commuters

Zoom in: Ahmed Wadi, a witness who used a satellite internet connection to get around a communications blackout, said 47 more people were taken to the nearest town, al-Mujlad, where a medical source said 30 died of their injuries.

• "50 bodies who I helped bury, one of them my own brother Mohamed," Wadi said.
• Wadi said the drone struck twice, 10 minutes apart, "on a transport hub where people gather to travel back to their villages after the market day ends".

The backstory: The war began in April 2023 when a power struggle between the Sudanese armed forces under Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo erupted in Khartoum. All of West Kordofan state sits under RSF control.

By the numbers: Drone strikes caused at least 880 civilian deaths between January and April, more than 80% of all conflict-related civilian deaths in Sudan, as both sides lean harder on air attacks.

The other side: The RSF-declared administration, known as Tasis, accused the army of Sunday's strike. After drone attacks on a livestock market in Nyala on Friday, the army said it had killed RSF fighters while the RSF said the military killed 30 civilians.

What they're saying: Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, warned the security council last week that the conflict and humanitarian crisis were deteriorating "with no breakthrough on the horizon".

• "They seem to believe that they can make greater gains on the battlefield and that continued external support will allow them to pursue their objectives by force," DiCarlo said of the warring parties.

Why it matters: Cheap drones have turned Sudan's war on civilians into something routine, aimed at the places people gather: markets, livestock yards and bus stops. Hundreds of thousands have died in the fighting, and outside powers backing both sides keep the supply flowing.