Drone strike kills 30 people in Sudan’s Blue Nile region

What Happened

At least 30 displaced people, including women and children, were killed and dozens wounded in a drone strike on Wad al-Mahi province, near Damazin in Sudan's Blue Nile region, on Friday. Wad al-Mahi governor Mahjoub Al-Sheikh told Al Jazeera that a drone belonging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted the province's centre, killing 26 women and four children. Al-Sheikh described the attack as 'cowardly' and, according to AFP, said the drone was launched 'from inside Ethiopia'. Al Jazeera Arabic's Sudan correspondent Wadah Al-Tahir reported that the strike was the latest in a wave of drone strikes against the Blue Nile region, occurring just outside a displacement camp near an informal gold mining site where women work clearing gold nuggets by hand. The RSF has not commented on the claim, and the casualty figures and attribution have not been independently verified.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

The strike extends the Sudan civil war to the Ethiopian border region, where the RSF offensive toward Damazin could stretch SAF forces between Blue Nile and Kordofan. The porous border reportedly serves as a supply line for the RSF, while Ethiopia's internal conflict adds to the risk of cross-border escalation. The attack hit displaced people near an informal gold mining site, underscoring how civilians in displacement camps are vulnerable to drone warfare, and the Blue Nile state has already seen nearly 100,000 people displaced this year according to United Nations figures.

Watch For

Monitor whether the RSF confirms or denies the drone strike and whether independent verification of the death toll emerges. Watch for SAF military deployments to Damazin and any shift in the Kordofan front, as well as Ethiopian government responses to accusations about RSF bases. Humanitarian updates on displacement figures from the United Nations for Blue Nile state will indicate the scale of new displacement from this attack.