RSF Drone Strikes in North Kordofan Kill 24 Displaced People and Hit WFP Aid Convoy

A drone strike near the city of Rahad in North Kordofan killed at least 24 people, including eight children, on Saturday, the Sudan Doctors Network said, attributing the attack to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The vehicle was carrying displaced families fleeing fighting in the Dubeiker area. A day earlier, a separate drone attack on a World Food Programme aid convoy in the same province killed one person and wounded several others, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Sudan said. The RSF did not immediately comment on either attack.

What happened near Rahad?

The Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country's war, said in a statement that the drone strike hit a vehicle transporting displaced people from the Dubeiker area in North Kordofan as it traveled toward Rahad. Two of the eight children killed were infants, and several women were among the dead, the group said. Others were wounded and taken for treatment in Rahad, where the group said medical supplies are severely short.

The doctors' group urged the international community and rights organizations to "take immediate action to protect civilians and hold the RSF leadership directly accountable for these violations." The RSF, which has been at war with the Sudanese military for control of the country for about three years, did not immediately comment, the Associated Press reported.

What happened to the WFP convoy?

A drone attack on Friday struck a WFP aid convoy in North Kordofan province, killing one person and wounding several others, said Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan. The convoy was heading to deliver "life-saving food assistance" to displaced people in the city of Obeid when it was struck; the attack burned the trucks and destroyed the aid, she said.

"Attacks on aid operations undermine efforts to reach people facing hunger and displacement," Brown said in a statement. She added that a drone strike last week hit close to a WFP facility in Blue Nile province, wounding a WFP worker.

The independent group Emergency Lawyers blamed the RSF for the convoy attack, while the Sudan Doctors Network called it a "flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and amounts to a full-fledged war crime." Neither attribution has been independently verified, and the RSF did not immediately comment.

Who is condemning the attacks?

Massad Boulos, a US adviser for African and Arab affairs, condemned the attack on X and called for those responsible to be held accountable. "Destroying food intended for people in need and killing humanitarian workers is sickening," he wrote, adding that the Trump administration has "zero tolerance for this destruction of life and of U.S.-funded assistance."

The British minister for international development and Africa, Jenny Chapman, called the attack on the WFP convoy "disgraceful," writing on X that aid workers and humanitarian operations "should never be targeted."

In a strongly worded statement on Saturday, Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry blasted the RSF for its recent drone strikes, including on the vehicle carrying displaced families, the WFP convoy, and a hospital in Kordofan that killed 22 people. The Saudi statement called for the RSF to stop attacking civilians and aid convoys, and called out foreign parties that continue to "deliver illegal arms, mercenaries and foreign fighters" — an apparent reference to the United Arab Emirates, which rights groups and UN experts have accused of arming the paramilitary group. The UAE has denied the accusations.

Why does it matter?

In recent months, Kordofan has become a flashpoint in the war. A report released Thursday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification found famine in two more areas in the western region of Darfur, and warned that acute malnutrition is expected to worsen in 2026, with cases in children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women rising to nearly 4.2 million. The UN says the war has killed more than 40,000 people, though aid groups say that is an undercount, and that more than 14 million people have been forced from their homes — the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

Related: our [October 3 report on the Sudanese army's capture of al-Mazroub in North Kordofan](/articles/0431-sudan-army-captures-al-mazroub).

Attribution note: the account of the Rahad strike rests on the Sudan Doctors Network's statement; the RSF has not commented. The convoy attack's attribution to the RSF comes from Emergency Lawyers; the WFP and UN have confirmed the attack itself but not who carried it out.