Ten people were killed over the weekend due to a drone strike on a crowded market in North Darfur State, Sudan, according to medics who did not mention the party that perpetrated the attack.
The attack comes at a time when battles have intensified in other Sudanese areas, leading to the evacuation of relief workers on Sunday from the besieged and famine-stricken city of Kadugli in the south.
The ongoing war in Sudan since April 15, 2023, between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, displaced about 12 million people, and led to the "worst humanitarian crisis" in the world according to the United Nations.
The North Darfur Emergency Rooms Council, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating aid in Sudan, clarified that a drone strike "targeted al-Hara market in al-Malha locality on Saturday".
The council did not specify who carried out the attack but noted that it “caused a partial fire in commercial stores and extensive material losses."
No immediate comments were made by the Sudanese army or the Rapid Support Forces.
The war is currently focused in South Kordofan, and the intensity of clashes in Kadugli, the state capital, escalated. Last week's drone attack killed eight people while they were trying to flee the army-controlled city.
A source from a humanitarian organization working in Kadugli told Agence France-Presse on Sunday that the humanitarian organizations "have evacuated all their workers" from the city due to the security situation.
The evacuation followed a decision by the United Nations to relocate its logistic center from Kadugli, said the source who requested anonymity, but did not mention the destination to which the workers were moved.
The Rapid Support Forces and their allies have besieged Kadugli and the nearby city of Delling since the war broke out.
Last week, the Rapid Support Forces announced their control over the Berne area, a main defensive line on the road connecting Kadugli to Delling.
After its control in October of last year over the city of Al-Fashir, the last stronghold of the army in Darfur, the Rapid Support Forces focused on the resource-rich Kordofan region, which is a strategic link connecting the army-controlled areas of the north and east to Darfur, dominated by the Rapid Support Forces in the west.
Kordofan, like Darfur, has many Arab ethnic groups that are non-Sudanese. Reports indicate that most of the violence that followed the fall of al-Fashir had ethnic motivations.
According to the International Organization for Migration, belonging to the United Nations, more than 50,000 civilians have fled the region since the end of October.
The war in Sudan has effectively divided the country into two parts, the first held by the army controlling the north, east, and center, while the Rapid Support Forces control the five state capitals in Darfur and parts of the south with their allies.
Doctors Without Borders said on Sunday that measles is spreading in three of the four states in Darfur.
In a statement, they explained that "measles, a preventable disease, is spreading in central, southern, and western Darfur."
They added, "Since September 2025, the organization's teams have treated more than 1,300 cases. Delays in transporting vaccines, approvals, and coordination from authorities and key partners, all leave children unprotected."
