KHARTOUM, July 7 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people were killed and 10 others injured in two drone attacks in Sudan's North Kordofan State on Monday and Tuesday, according to a rights group and eyewitnesses.
The Sudanese Emergency Lawyers, a local rights group, said in a statement on Tuesday that "a drone struck a civilian vehicle en route to a wedding in the town of Al-Sha'tout on Monday, killing 13 people, including five women."
In a separate incident Tuesday morning, another drone hit a water transport vehicle near a water source in the Hamrat al-Sheikh area, killing two people, it added.
A doctor at Jabrat al-Sheikh Hospital, who requested anonymity, told Xinhua that the hospital received 13 bodies and seven injured people on Monday following the strike on the civilian vehicle.
Meanwhile, an eyewitness told Xinhua that the second attack killed the driver and another civilian and injured three others.
Also on Tuesday, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) General Command said in a statement that its ground forces have shot down an FH-95 strategic drone north of the Al-Andaraba area in North Kordofan State, without specifying its operator.
The developments came amid intensified military activity across the Kordofan region since October 2025, where drone warfare has become increasingly widespread.
The Sudanese government, along with human rights organizations and advocacy groups, has accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of targeting civilian facilities and public service infrastructure. The RSF has denied the accusations, claiming that its operations target military objectives and that it is committed to protecting civilians.
On May 12, the UN warned of escalating drone attacks in Sudan, noting that such attacks killed at least 880 civilians nationwide between January and April 2026, with the Kordofan region hit the hardest.
Since mid-April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a conflict between the SAF and the RSF, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions in the country and beyond. ■