Twenty-four civilians, including eight children and two infants, have been killed after a drone strike hit a vehicle carrying displaced families near the city of Al-Rahad in North Kordofan State, a day after a World Food Program aid convoy was targeted.
The attack took place today, Saturday, 7th February, 2026, after a vehicle transporting civilians escaping ongoing clashes was targeted, by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s powerful paramilitary group at war with the national army.
According to the Sudan Doctors Network, which monitors the conflict, the vehicle was carrying families displaced from the Dubeiker area of North Kordofan when it was struck leaving several other civilians, including women, children and elderly people, were wounded in the attack.
“The wounded were transferred to Al-Rahad for treatment amid extremely challenging health and humanitarian conditions, compounded by a severe shortage of medical supplies and personnel,’’ the doctors’ group said in a statement.
The group condemned the attack and urged the international community and human rights organizations to take immediate action to protect civilians and hold the RSF leadership accountable for what it described as serious violations of international law.
“Deliberately attacking unarmed civilians and their means of escape is a full-fledged war crime and a blatant breach of all humanitarian and international laws,’’ the Sudan Doctors’ Network added.
It also called for securing safe displacement routes and ensuring unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Denise Brown, said she encountered the aftermath of the strike while visiting El-Obeid, a city under army control but surrounded by RSF for over a year.
She reported seeing destroyed and burning aid trucks in the area.
Brown said she was deeply concerned by the attack and called for the protection of humanitarian personnel, assets and supplies, warning that continued attacks threaten lifesaving operations.
“Just days before this tragedy, a World Food Programme convoy was attacked, killing one aid worker. The repeated targeting of civilians and humanitarian staff underscores the brutal disregard for human life and the urgent need for action to stop these atrocities’’ the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan stated.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces for nearly three years, a conflict that has devastated large parts of the country.
The incident comes amid a worsening humanitarian crisis. According to the United Nations, more than 21 million people, nearly half of Sudan’s population, are facing acute food insecurity.
UNICEF said famine has already been confirmed in Al Fasher in North Darfur and in Kadugli in Kordofan, with nearly 20 other areas at risk.
Fighting has increasingly shifted to the Kordofan region after the RSF seized control of much of Darfur in western Sudan. El-Obeid, a strategic hub, lies on the main road linking Darfur to the capital, Khartoum, making it a key focal point in the conflict.
As fighting intensifies in Kordofan and key aid supply routes come under constant threat, displaced families face constant danger, and the delivery of lifesaving aid hangs by a thread.
With civilians and humanitarian workers increasingly in the crossfire, the world cannot remain silent.
Immediate action is needed to stop these attacks, protect innocent lives, and hold those responsible to account, or Sudan’s humanitarian catastrophe will continue to claim countless more victims.
