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El Geneina
At least 17 people were killed and several others injured on Friday after drone strikes hit two locations in El Geneina, the capital of Sudan’s West Darfur State, according to local officials and residents.
El Geneina has been under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since November 2023. The group has faced widespread accusations of war crimes and ethnic cleansing against the Masalit community in the region. The city, which borders Chad, has repeatedly been targeted by airstrikes attributed to the Sudanese army.
In a statement, the RSF-affiliated civil administration in West Darfur said the fatalities resulted from strikes carried out by army drones.
According to the administration, the first strike hit a water station in the Ardamata area, killing seven people, including women and children. The incident was described as a “direct attack on a vital service facility relied upon by thousands of civilians.”
A second strike reportedly targeted a civilian vehicle in the Kirik area that was transporting a patient and her relatives to El Geneina Hospital. Ten people, all from the same family, were killed in that attack, the statement said.
The civil administration condemned the strikes, accusing the attackers of targeting unarmed civilians and civilian infrastructure, and rejected justifications that frame such locations as “social incubators” or support bases.
The statement described the attacks as violations of international humanitarian law and called on international human rights organizations to document the incident and ensure those responsible are held accountable.
