By Nana Karikari, Senior Global Affairs Correspondent
A devastating drone strike ripped through a bustling market in south-central Sudan on Tuesday morning, killing 28 people and wounding dozens more, a local rights group said, part of the war that has devastated the country since 2023. The strike targeted the town of Ghubaysh in West Kordofan province during peak shopping hours when the area was overcrowded with civilians. Medical personnel at the scene warned that at least 25 of the wounded survivors remain in critical condition.
The Emergency Lawyers, a local rights group that tracks violations committed during the conflict, said on X that the market in the town of Ghubaysh in West Kordofan province was targeted on Tuesday morning when it was overcrowded with civilians. The group openly blamed the army for the strike.
The market serves as a vital economic lifeline. Thousands of people across West Kordofan and neighboring areas rely on this specific hub for food and essential supplies. The region has grown increasingly isolated due to the shifting frontlines of the war.
The strike underscores the relentless peril facing civilians in Sudan. A full-scale war broke out in April 2023 after long-simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalated. The RSF currently controls West Kordofan province, a strategically vital area bordering Darfur that features key oil infrastructure and critical supply routes.
Conflicting Accounts of the Strike
Local rights groups and volunteer organizations placed the blame for the deadly strike directly on the Sudanese military. Furthering the allegations detailed by the Emergency Lawyers, the Darfur Victims Support Organization, a volunteer group, also accused the Sudanese army of carrying out the attack.
The Sudanese military strongly rejected these accusations. An official with Sudan’s army told The Associated Press the army doesn’t target civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Another military source also denied the group’s claims, stating that an army drone struck two RSF combat vehicles near the market while they were refueling, completely destroying the vehicles and killing those inside without causing any civilian casualties. These military sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media.
Eyewitness and medical reports from the ground offered a grim picture of the immediate aftermath. An anonymous medical source at Ghebeish city’s main hospital told Xinhua the bodies of 28 victims and 25 wounded were brought in, with some in critical condition. An eyewitness told Xinhua a drone struck the crowded central market this morning, destroying a military vehicle parked inside, with shrapnel causing most civilian casualties.
The RSF did not issue an immediate comment on the strike or the destruction of its vehicles.
The Deadly Rise of Drone Warfare
The tragedy in Ghubaysh highlights a broader, lethal trend in the Sudanese conflict. Drone warfare has become the deadliest threat to civilians in Sudan ’s conflict and both the military and the RSF are being supplied by a number of countries in the Middle East and beyond.
The proliferation of these unmanned weapons has drawn intense international concern. United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk recently called for measures to prevent their transfer to Sudan. According to United Nations tracking, drones killed at least 880 civilians between January and April.
Both sides utilize this technology extensively to alter the battlefield dynamics. Both the army and RSF use drones to secure contested territory, disrupt mobilization efforts and spread insecurity in areas controlled by rivals, Türk said. Recent battle lines show the RSF carried out drone attacks on Khartoum International Airport and other areas near the Sudanese capital, which the army seized control of last year.
Data highlights a massive surge in the use of these weapons. At least 2,670 people, including combatants and civilians, were killed in 2025, marking a 600% increase in drone-related deaths and an 81% increase in drone attacks compared to the previous year, the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project found. Analysts say advanced drones supplied by foreign actors have allowed the warring sides to intensify attacks on densely populated areas, deepening the conflict and fueling fears of a wider proxy war.
A Staggering Humanitarian Toll
The drone strike adds to a humanitarian catastrophe that has transformed Sudan over the past three years. The conflict in Sudan has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced some 13 million and pushed many parts of the country into famine.
The breakdown of infrastructure and agriculture has left the population entirely vulnerable. More than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance as the war continues with no resolution in sight.
Continental Realities and the West African Perspective
The fallout from the Ghubaysh marketplace attack is generating acute concern across the African continent, resonating strongly in West African democratic hubs like Ghana. Historically a major contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations, Ghana has consistently advocated for institutional stability across the Economic Community of West African States and the broader African Union. As the conflict in Sudan threatens a de facto partition of the country, West African leaders warn that unchecked drone proliferation undermines continental security frameworks.
The African Union Peace and Security Council has intensified its coordination with international bodies under the Quintet leadership framework to establish a verifiable humanitarian ceasefire. Analysts in Accra and other regional capitals emphasize that the instability in Northeast Africa risks cross-border spillovers, encouraging armed factions elsewhere to adopt low-cost, unmonitored drone tech. The diplomatic push from African civil society groups aims to reassert continental mediation primacy, urging an immediate halt to foreign weapon shipments to prevent the normalization of marketplace targeting.
A War Without Boundaries
The strike in Ghubaysh encapsulates the core tragedy of the Sudanese gridlock, where the adoption of low-cost, high-tech weaponry has outpaced international diplomatic interventions. As foreign-supplied drones continue to tighten the tactical grip of both the military and the RSF over civilian spaces, rural hubs like West Kordofan are increasingly caught in the crossfire. Without a binding international framework to halt arms flows or a diplomatic breakthrough between the warring factions, Sudan’s civilian population remains exposed to a war of attrition where even basic survival centers like local markets are transformed into active battlefields.
