A recent paramilitary drone attack on the army-held town of Kalogi in Sudan’s South Kordofan state hit a kindergarten and a hospital, killing dozens of civilians including children, a local official told AFP.

The attack last week involved three strikes, “first a kindergarten, then a hospital and a third time as people tried to rescue the children”, Essam al-Din al-Sayed, head of the Kalogi administrative unit, said.

He blamed the assault on the Rapid Support Forces and their ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, which controls much of South Kordofan and parts of Blue Nile state.

Since April 2023, the army and the paramilitary RSF have been locked in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 12 million.

Independent verification in Kordofan remains difficult because of spotty communications, restricted access and ongoing insecurity.

The exact death toll from the Kalogi attack remains unclear.

The local official reported at least 80 dead including 40 children, while the army-aligned foreign ministry gave a lower toll of 79.

The African Union said the death toll exceeded 100.

The UN children’s agency meanwhile said the attack killed more than 10 children aged between five and seven.

“Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights,” Unicef Representative for Sudan Sheldon Yett, said, urging all sides to stop their attacks and allow humanitarian aid.

In a statement shared on X, African Union chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf condemned “in the strongest possible terms the horrific reported attacks” in Kalogi.

He said he was “appalled by the repeated and escalating atrocities committed against civilians in the region”.

Escalating violence

Following their late-October capture of El-Fasher – the army’s last stronghold in western Sudan – the RSF has pushed eastward into the oil-rich Kordofan region, divided into three states.

Reports of mass killings, sexual violence, looting and abductions followed El-Fasher’s fall.

UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said on Thursday he “feared another wave of atrocities in Sudan amid a surge in fierce fighting” in Kordofan.

“It is truly shocking to see history repeating itself in Kordofan so soon after the horrific events in El Fasher.”

Last week, a drone strike by the army in Kauda – the SPLM-N faction stronghold in South Kordofan – killed at least 48 people, according to the UN.

More than 40,000 people have fled Kordofan in the past month alone, UN data showed.

Analysts say the RSF offensive aims to break the army’s final defensive arc around central Sudan and set the stage for attempts to retake major cities, including the capital Khartoum.

-Agence France-Presse