The Organization for the Defense of Darfur Victims said it had documented a new attack launched by a large Egyptian army force on the North Wadi region, carrying out a large-scale operation against Sudanese miners last Sunday—one day before the Chairman of the Sovereign Council made statements promising to investigate the assault on Sudanese citizens after they crossed the border into Egypt.
In a report, the organization stated that the force renewed its attack on the area at midday last Sunday, resulting in the arrest of 67 Sudanese citizens and the wounding of three others by gunfire.
According to accounts the organization obtained from eyewitnesses and survivors of the incident, the attack took place at approximately 12:00 p.m. Sudan time on June 21, 2026, when a large Egyptian military force—estimated at about sixty armed vehicles, including six enclosed trucks used to transport detainees, toward mining sites where Sudanese civilians were working in the northern part of the valley. Witnesses reported that the force surrounded the miners and opened fire during the arrest operation, and that a number of civilians were beaten and mistreated while in detention.
The organization stated that 67 Sudanese citizens were detained, including Khalid Abdulrahman Wad al-Omda (30) from Al- Jughana area in the Qirida locality of South Darfur state, Salah Abdullah (25), Abdullah Ibrahim (31) from the village of Jughana in the Qirida locality, and Hamid Nitsha (29) from the same area, in addition to dozens of others whose identities the organization has not yet been able to fully verify. The operation also resulted in the injury of at least three civilians, including a man named Al-Rabee, who was shot and had to be transported to Port Sudan for treatment.
The organization clarified that, on the same day, June 21, 2026, the Sudanese Army’s military intelligence summoned seven Sudanese miners to its office in the northern Wadi region, shortly after the attack took place. According to a statement from a relative of one of the summoned individuals, they were ordered to delete photos and videos related to the incident and not to share any material documenting what happened on social media; they were also threatened with imprisonment if they retained or published such material. Their cell phones were confiscated and searched before they were subjected to an interrogation that lasted about an hour and a half.
It explained that these practices, if proven true, could effectively undermine accountability and withhold information from the public, the victims’ families, and independent human rights organizations.
More than 50 miners were killed, and dozens were injured in an attack carried out by Egyptian forces on the North Valley region last week.
The organization called on national, regional, and international human rights bodies to intervene urgently, establish an independent mechanism to investigate violations occurring in border areas and remote mining regions, ensure the protection of victims and witnesses, preserve evidence, and enable the families of detainees to learn the fate of their loved ones and obtain justice and effective redress.
On Monday, the Egyptian Armed Forces announced that they had raided what they described as “criminal hotspots” in the southern region, apprehended 223 suspects—including 87 Egyptians and 136 foreigners—and seized mining equipment and weapons.
It confirmed the seizure of 14 vehicles of various types, wireless communication devices, and various sums of money in Egyptian pounds and foreign currencies, as well as the seizure of quantities of unlicensed weapons and ammunition, and the confiscation of large quantities of equipment and devices used in illegal mining operations.
It added that it had apprehended a number of infiltrators who did not possess official residency documents in the country, and that they were immediately deported to their home.
