At least 51 people were killed across Sudan’s southern Kordofan region between Wednesday and Thursday, medical sources said, as fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalated.
The army said it recaptured the city of Bara, a strategic highway hub linking Khartoum to North Kordofan’s capital, El-Obeid, in a move officials called a turning point in the months-long struggle for control of the region.
South Kordofan’s city of Dilling was hit hardest on Thursday, with relentless artillery fire and drone strikes.
A medic at Dilling Hospital reported 28 deaths and 60 injuries, including women and children. Residents described bombs falling throughout the day, leveling homes, and leaving civilians trapped in the rubble.
“The shelling has been very intense since the morning. Many homes have been destroyed,” one resident told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Dilling had been under siege by the RSF for much of the war before the army broke through in January. Since then, RSF attacks, primarily drone strikes, have persisted.
On Wednesday, a drone strike killed five people and injured seven, according to medical sources.
Elsewhere, in Al-Mojlad, West Kordofan, a drone strike blamed on the army killed 18 and wounded 25, according to hospital officials.
Both sides’ use of drones has increasingly targeted populated areas, causing mounting civilian casualties and drawing repeated UN condemnation.
Bara’s recapture is strategically critical. The city had served as a launch point for RSF attacks on El-Obeid, which the paramilitary sought to re-encircle.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced as control of the city shifted repeatedly.
“Entering Bara is a major turning point and will have repercussions for El-Obeid and all of North Kordofan,” an army official said on condition of anonymity. The RSF retaliated with a drone strike on a state public prosecution building in El-Obeid, according to local officials.
Drone warfare has become a defining feature of the conflict. Both the army and RSF have relied on unmanned aircraft, striking civilian neighborhoods with devastating impact.
The UN’s resident coordinator in Sudan, Denise Brown, visited Dilling this week, highlighting the plight of trapped civilians.
“The population can't move. This is what war is, civilians caught in the midst of fighting,” she said, urging immediate humanitarian access.
Humanitarian conditions across Kordofan are dire.
Hundreds of thousands are on the brink of starvation as the war, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced approximately 11 million people, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
The struggle for strategic cities like Bara, Dilling, and El-Obeid underscores the deadly stakes in a region caught between military control and paramilitary offensives.
