This is a locator map for Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
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CAIRO – A drone strike by Sudanese paramilitary forces struck a kindergarten in south-central Sudan, killing 50 people, including 33 children, a doctors’ group said.
Paramedics at the scene in the town of Kalogi in South Kordofan state were targeted in a “second unexpected attack,” the group said in a statement late Friday.
The death toll is expected to be higher, but communications blackouts in the area have made it difficult to report casualties.
Thursday’s attack is the latest in fighting between the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, also known as the RSF, and the Sudanese army, who have been at war for more than two years. It is now focusing on the oil-rich Kordofan states.
“Killing children in their schools is a horrific violation of children’s rights,” Sheldon Yate, UNICEF representative in Sudan, said in a statement on Friday.
“Children should never have to pay the price of conflict,” Yate said.
He said UNICEF urges all parties to “immediately stop these attacks and allow safe, unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance to those in need.”
Hundreds of civilians have been killed across Kordofan states over the past few weeks as intense fighting broke out in Darfur after the RSF captured the besieged town of al-Fashar.
Sudanese military air strikes killed at least 48 people, mostly civilians, in Kouda, South Kordofan on Sunday.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned that Kordofan could face new atrocities like those in al-Fashar.
The violent capture of al-Fashar by the RSF was marked with executions of civilians, rape and sexual assaults, and other atrocities. Thousands of people fled and thousands more are feared dead or trapped in the city.
The RSF and the Sudanese army are fighting for power over Sudan from 2023. According to the World Health Organization, the war killed more than 40,000 people and displaced 12 million. However, aid groups say the actual death toll may be much higher.
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