A drone strike on a funeral procession in the Sudanese city of el Obeid has killed and injured mourners in one of the deadliest recent attacks on civilians in the countries grinding civil war, according to rights groups.
Sudan Doctors Network and the legal group Emergency Lawyers reported that at least four people died and several others were wounded when an unmanned aircraft hit a cemetery as people gathered to bury a relative. The organisations, which document abuses in the conflict, blame the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for the strike.
Emergency Lawyers was quoted by BBC News as saying that the cemetery bombing formed part of a wider series of drone attacks on el Obeid that began on Wednesday evening. The group says that at least twenty three people in total have been killed in repeated strikes on residential districts, areas around the local airport and neighbourhoods close to an army base.
The Rapid Support Forces, which are fighting Sudanese army units for control of the country, have not commented on the specific allegations. The city is held by the regular army and lies in the oil rich Kordofan region, a strategically vital area that links Rapid Support Forces controlled territory in western Sudan to parts of the east still dominated by government troops.
Residents described scenes of devastation after the latest attacks. One man was quoted by the AFP news agency, in comments carried by BBC News, as saying that it was tragic to see the roofs of homes collapse onto families and that in some houses it seemed impossible anyone could have survived. Local reports also said that a truck driver carrying food supplies was killed when his vehicle was hit on Thursday.
The war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces erupted three years ago after a power struggle between rival generals, each backed by different regional allies. Fighting that began in the capital Khartoum has spread across much of the country, drawing in local militias and triggering cycles of ethnic violence, looting and mass displacement.
There are no precise figures for the number of people killed since the conflict began, but estimates cited by humanitarian groups and reported by BBC News suggest that at least fifty thousand people may have died. More than eleven million people have been driven from their homes and around twenty eight million now face acute food insecurity, making Sudan one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises.
Human rights advocates say that the alleged use of armed drones against clearly civilian targets such as funerals and crowded neighbourhoods could amount to war crimes. They are calling for independent investigations and for governments that supply weapons or political backing to the warring parties to use their influence to halt attacks on non combatants.
The accounts in this report are based on statements from Sudan Doctors Network, Emergency Lawyers, local residents quoted by news agencies and figures from international relief organisations. While the front line around el Obeid continues to shift, the pattern they describe is one in which civilians bear the brunt of a conflict driven by rival armed groups and the strategic value of Sudans oil producing heartland.
