At least 36 people have been killed in a drone strike on a crowded market in Sudan’s Darfur region, a medical aid organization said Tuesday, as attacks on civilian areas intensify and the country’s humanitarian crisis deepens.
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said Sudanese armed forces struck a market in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on Monday evening, causing what it described as “complete devastation.” A second drone strike hit a residential area.
The MSF-supported Nyala Teaching Hospital had received 36 bodies by Tuesday, including 21 people dressed in civilian clothing, the organization said. More than 150 injured people had also been treated in the hospital’s emergency department, many suffering from shrapnel wounds and severe burns. Children were among the wounded.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting Sudan’s military since April 2023, gave a substantially higher toll, saying 188 civilians had been killed and another 356 injured. The figures could not immediately be independently verified.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) had not commented on the attack as of Tuesday.
MSF called on both sides to protect civilians and refrain from attacking markets, residential buildings and essential civilian infrastructure.
The strike is the latest in a series of deadly attacks on civilian gathering places. At least four people were killed and many others injured in a similar drone strike on another market in Nyala on Oct. 16. A separate attack on a market in the Abyei region, near the border with South Sudan, killed at least 80 people.
The United Nations has also reported drone strikes at several locations in the capital, Khartoum, in recent days, including an area near the airport. Other attacks have been reported in West Darfur, South Darfur and North Kordofan.
Drones have become an increasingly prominent feature of Sudan’s civil war. According to the U.N. Human Rights Office, drone strikes killed at least 1,120 civilians during the first half of 2026. Both sides have been accused of carrying out attacks that have endangered civilian lives.
The conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 14 million, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The latest violence comes as Sudan’s government seeks international accountability for atrocities in Darfur, where the RSF’s takeover of El Fasher has left civilians facing severe food shortages, displacement and widespread reports of abuses.
Sudan’s Ambassador to Türkiye, Nadir Yousif Eltayeb, said Tuesday that the international community had failed to take an impartial approach to the conflict and had not done enough to address the suffering of civilians.
Speaking at a meeting on Sudan at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in Ankara, Eltayeb said El Fasher had endured a complete siege for about 30 months, leaving residents dependent on limited aid deliveries.
“About 1 million people were surviving on aid delivered by the armed forces by air. People could not access enough food, to the point that they had to eat tree bark,” he said.
Eltayeb said Sudanese government forces had made more than 200 attempts to break the siege but had failed to restore access to the city.
“The international community has taken a biased approach to this issue, preventing it from being resolved,” he said.
The RSF captured El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on Oct. 26, 2025, after about 18 months of fighting and a siege that began in May 2024. The city had been the last major urban center in Darfur under the Sudanese army’s control.
Eltayeb accused foreign countries of supporting the RSF, arguing that the paramilitary group would not have been able to advance without outside assistance. He also alleged that armed groups had deliberately targeted particular tribes in El Fasher.
“What happened in El Fasher is genocide,” he said.
He added that the full death toll in El Fasher and the wider Darfur region remained unknown.
Eltayeb further alleged that pressure from the United Arab Emirates had prevented Sudan from submitting reports on the killings to the U.N. Security Council. He accused Abu Dhabi of supporting armed groups involved in the conflict but acknowledged that the allegations had not been proven.
The UAE has repeatedly denied accusations that it supports the RSF.
“We are seeking justice for Sudan,” Eltayeb said, thanking Türkiye for its support.
The fall of El Fasher marked a major shift in the conflict, but the fighting and its aftermath have left the city’s remaining population facing dire conditions.
The U.N. Human Rights Office said more than 6,000 people were killed during the first three days of attacks after the RSF seized the city. Subsequent reports described killings, forced displacement, torture and sexual violence against civilians.
The U.N. has warned that abuses against civilians, including women and children, have continued, citing reports of executions and sexual violence.
The takeover also triggered a mass exodus. About 138,200 people were displaced from El Fasher and surrounding settlements between Oct. 26, 2025, and March 1, 2026, according to figures provided in the humanitarian assessment.
Before the war, El Fasher had a population of more than 1 million. Its population is now estimated to have fallen below 70,000.
Those who remain face continuing insecurity and severely restricted access to food, medical care and other essential services. The departure of tens of thousands of residents has further strained already limited humanitarian operations across Darfur.
