The United Nations Human Rights Commission has documented the deaths of at least 306 people and injuries to hundreds more in drone attacks in Sudan during the first three weeks of October—a toll that reveals how this weapon has become the leading cause of war-related civilian deaths this year.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement released Friday that the escalating use of drones by the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces is inflicting horrific casualties on civilians in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum, and other states.
According to the Office of the High Commissioner, the strikes have targeted homes, markets, hospitals, and sites sheltering displaced persons, as well as power stations, water sources, and other facilities on which the population relies for survival.
Tork warned that drones were responsible for the majority of conflict-related civilian deaths in Sudan during 2026, noting that the attacks not only killed civilians but also destroyed essential services, forced more people to flee, and exacerbated an already deteriorating humanitarian crisis.
Army Bombs Shelters for Displaced People
UNHCR documented a pattern it described as “particularly alarming,” in which sites where people who had previously fled the fighting sought safety were targeted.
It said that drone strikes attributed to the Sudanese army targeted, between October 6 and 10, sites sheltering displaced people in the cities of Ghibish and Al-Nahud in West Kordofan State, killing at least 25 civilians and wounding 31 others, including women and children.
Drones attributed to the Rapid Support Forces also targeted the Bajoun mining area in the Qadir locality of South Kordofan on October 9 and 16, killing 42 civilians and wounding 25 others. On October 11, a strike attributed to the Rapid Support Forces hit the Um Darfa Hospital in Blue Nile, seriously injuring health workers and putting the facility out of service, thereby depriving residents and displaced persons of vital medical services in an area experiencing escalating fighting.
A Cycle of Retaliation Strikes Cities
UNHCR warned of the emergence of a new pattern of retaliatory strikes; attacks attributed to the Rapid Support Forces were carried out on Khartoum and the area surrounding its airport, reportedly in response to army airstrikes targeting Nyala.
This means that cities and civilian infrastructure have become pawns in a cycle of mutual retaliation, in which both sides are using long-range weapons without sufficient regard for the civilian casualties they cause.
Turk called for a halt to the flow of weapons fueling the war and for pressure to be exerted to stop the transport of equipment used in attacks that clearly disregard the rules for the protection of civilians. He also called on the army, the Rapid Support Forces, and their allied forces to commit to a ceasefire, emphasizing that a negotiated settlement based on human rights and accountability is the only path to sustainable peace.
The UN’s assessment confronts both sides of the conflict—particularly the army leadership, which continues to refuse to end the war—with a heavy burden of legal and moral questions. When shelters for the displaced, markets, transportation, and hospitals become targets, talk of a “military victory” is nothing more than a cover for a war whose human cost grows day by day.
The continued refusal of the army leadership and the Port Sudan authorities to end the war—coupled with the escalation of airstrikes in populated areas—means that civilians will remain the easiest target in a battle that has brought victory to neither side but has succeeded in killing Sudanese people and destroying what remains of their country.
