A drone attack allegedly carried out by Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a kindergarten and a hospital in Sudan’s South Kordofan state killed dozens of civilians last week, an international news agency is believed to have learnt on December 7.
The attack took place on December 4, but was reported by a local official on Sunday, using a Starlink connection. Three strikes, being blamed on the RSF and their ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction, “first hit a kindergarten, then a hospital, and a third time as people tried to rescue the children”, said Essam al-Din al-Sayed, head of the Kalogi administrative unit.
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army and the paramilitary RSF are engaged in a conflict that has killed dozens and displaced more than 12 million people, although little news trickles out due to spotty network and security restrictions.
In late October, the RSF captured El-Fasher, the army’s last stronghold in western Sudan, pushing the paramilitary eastward into the oil-rich Kordofan region.
Also Read: Amnesty accuses Sudan’s RSF of committing war crimes in Darfur
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, confirmed the death of at least 10 children aged between five and seven years, even though the Army-aligned Foreign Ministry pegged the total death count at 79, including 43 children.
More than 40,000 people have fled the region in the past month, a UN report said.
“Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights,” said UNICEF Representative for Sudan, Sheldon Yett.
Meanwhile, analysts say the paramilitary is intent on breaking the last of the army’s defensive arc around Central Sudan to overtake the country’s resources, thereby thwarting all attempts to retake major cities, including the Khartoum.
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