Drone strike on Darfur market kills dozens, MSF says; UN says Sudan drone attacks killed at least 306 in three weeks

As of 9:24 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026

A drone strike on a busy market in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, killed dozens of people Monday evening, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and a Sudanese rights group. Both blamed Sudan's army. The strike came days after the United Nations human rights office said drone strikes by both sides had killed at least 306 people across Sudan in the first three weeks of October.

The Nyala strike

MSF said a Sudanese Armed Forces drone hit a market in western Nyala at around 8 p.m. local time on Oct. 26, and a second strike hit a civilian neighborhood. The MSF-supported Nyala Teaching Hospital had received the bodies of 36 people, 21 of them in civilian clothing, and its staff saw more than 150 wounded patients in the emergency room, MSF said.

"Markets, homes, and key civilian infrastructure are not targets. All parties to the conflict must protect civilians," said Dale Koninckx, MSF's project coordinator in Nyala.

Emergency Lawyers, a group that tracks violence in Sudan, said in a statement Tuesday that more than 100 people were killed and 113 injured, many of them women and children, The Associated Press reported. The group blamed the military and called for an independent investigation. GROKsiNEWS.com could not independently verify either toll. No army response was reported in the sources reviewed.

Nyala is held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting the army since April 2023, AP noted. MSF said a drone also hit Nyala's Al-Mawashi market on Oct. 16, killing at least four people.

The UN tally

On Oct. 23, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned what he called an escalation in drone strikes that killed at least 306 people and injured hundreds more in the first three weeks of October, UN News reported. The office attributed the strikes to both the army and the RSF. It said they hit homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites, power stations and water sources in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum and other states.

"The increasing use of drones, already accounting for the majority of conflict-related civilian deaths in Sudan this year, is deeply disturbing and is exacting a horrifying toll," Türk said.

The incidents the UN rights office (OHCHR) documented include:

• Oct. 6-10: alleged strikes attributed to military government forces on shelters for displaced people in Ghubeish and El Nuhud, West Kordofan, killing at least 25 civilians.
• Oct. 9: an alleged RSF drone strike on displaced people mining gold near Abu Shendi, Blue Nile, killing at least 31.
• Oct. 18: a "double tap" strike on a truck in Dibab, West Kordofan, an RSF-controlled area, killing at least 139.

Separately, a drone attack on Oct. 19 on Amiet Market and the Todach area in Abyei, the disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan, killed more than 80 people, UN News reported. The Security Council condemned that attack and called for an investigation.

Türk urged both sides to commit to a ceasefire and said peace efforts must press for an end to transfers of arms used in disregard of international humanitarian law.

The war has killed at least 59,000 people, according to the conflict monitor ACLED, though aid groups say the true toll is likely higher, AP reported. About 34 million people need assistance, according to the UN.

Earlier GROKsiNEWS.com coverage: 31 governments warn of Sudan famine risk and drone strikes cut power in southeast Sudan.