A drone strike near a market in Sudan's West Kordofan state killed roughly 80 people on Sunday evening, according to a medical source and a witness cited by Al Jazeera, making it one of the deadliest single attacks since Sudan's civil war began in April 2023.

Witness Ahmed Abakar Wadi described two strikes landing about ten minutes apart on a transport hub in Al-Dibab, where people were waiting for rides home after market day. The wounded were taken to a hospital in nearby Al-Mujlad. A medical source said roughly 30 of the wounded later died, bringing the toll cited by local reporting to about 80.

Disputed Responsibility

West Kordofan is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group that has fought Sudan's army since April 2023 in a war that has displaced more than 13 million people. The RSF-aligned civilian administration, known as Tasis, blamed the strike on the Sudanese Armed Forces; Sudan's military has not issued its own public accounting of the incident. Neither side's account has been independently verified.

The attack came amid a broader surge in drone strikes across Sudan. A separate strike Monday in the capital, Khartoum, killed four people, including three children, according to the same Al Jazeera report, which put the combined toll from escalating drone attacks across the country at roughly 160 over recent days.

"ALARMED BY THE CONTINUED DEADLY DRONE STRIKES ... THAT ARE KILLING CIVILIANS, INCLUDING CHILDREN"

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the United Nations was "alarmed by the continued deadly drone strikes across the country that are killing civilians, including children," reiterating calls from UN agencies for both sides to spare civilian areas.

A Deepening Crisis

Sudan's war, now in its fourth year, has produced what aid groups call the world's largest displacement crisis. An estimated 33.7 million people — more than two-thirds of the country's population — now need humanitarian assistance, according to UN figures, as fighting between the army and RSF has repeatedly hit markets, hospitals and camps for the displaced.

No ceasefire talks are currently scheduled between the two sides. Aid organizations have warned for months that shrinking access to West Kordofan and neighboring states is making it increasingly difficult to verify casualty figures or deliver emergency relief to survivors.