Two airplanes downed in Sudan conflict zones
Crashes coincide with bombing campaign in Darfur and Kordofan
Two military aircraft crashed on Monday and Tuesday in different parts of Sudan, including one incident that involved anti-aircraft fire, killing at least 50 people.
Both airplanes were Soviet-made cargo aircraft operated by the Sudanese military or on behalf of it, according to Sudanese media reports and analysis of debris.
The first airplane crashed near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, before dawn on Monday. Jubilant fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which controls the area, and crowds of civilians, gathered at the crash site.
Three aviation experts, cited by Reuters, identified the wreckage as likely an Ilyushin-76 cargo plane, the same kind that crashed in North Darfur in October.
Eyewitnesses said the airplane had dropped bombs in Nyala before the crash, and that they had heard intense anti-aircraft fire, according to a report by Darfur 24.
Previously, Sudan’s Air Force has used cargo planes of the Ilyushin and Antonov variety to carry out attacks in Darfur, including on airports, markets, and livestock.
Although the precise death toll is unknown, the Ilyushin-76 has a standard crew of five, and Sudanese media reported that Maj-Gen. Abu Al-Gasim Al-Madani, a senior commander in the Air Force, died in the crash along with several others.
Abu Al-Gasim had been involved in a 2019 coup attempt to restore the Islamist regime of Omar al-Bashir, shortly after the latter’s fall from power, orchestrated by former Army Chief of Staff Hashim Abdel Muttalib. He was jailed and convicted by the interim government, but rehabilitated after the current regime (which is also led by officers of the Bashir regime) came to power in a successful coup in 2021.
SAF has carried out an air campaign against Nyala since the RSF took full control of the city in 2023, starting with a brutal wave of attacks in December 2023. The Air Force recently revived and intensified its efforts after the RSF received new military equipment and supplies in the city, including new drones based at the Nyala Airport.
Below: Civilians rummage through debris of the aircraft near Nyala:
Airplane crashes on homes in Omdurman
The second crash took place near Wadi Saidna military airbase in Khartoum State on Tuesday, involving an Antonov cargo plane. The cause of the crash is unknown, and the military said it was caused by a “technical malfunction” rather than hostile fire.
Wadi Saidna is near a frontline but seemingly safely within SAF-controlled territory, and the plane crashed in Block 75 of Hai Al-Thawra, a neighborhood of northern Omdurman controlled by the army.
Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft flying low before it crashed with a loud explosion, damaging several homes and injuring and killing some civilians on the ground. Residents also reported power outages in nearby areas after the crash.
The Ministry of Information, which is part of the army-led regime based in Port Sudan, said that 17 military personnel had died, including high-ranking officers, and 29 civilians, and at least 10 others were injured as a result of falling debris.
In a media statement, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took credit for shooting down the Ilyushin airplane over Nyala, but not the Antonov airplane over Omdurman.
The statement read in part,
“Hundreds of Nyala residents gathered at the site where the burning plane crashed, expressing their relief and satisfaction at the downing of the fatal aircraft that had brought immense suffering to civilians, including children and women, turning their lives into a living hell.
“The RSF affirms its commitment to decisively confront any military war plane of the SAF and their allied Islamic Movement attempting to bomb innocent civilians in Nyala… Since the outbreak of the war, the SAF air force controlled by the Islamic Movement has relentlessly carried out indiscriminate bombardments across the cities of Darfur, Kordofan, Gezira, Blue Nile, and Khartoum. These attacks have resulted in the brutal killing of women and children, as well as the widespread destruction of infrastructure and the homes of citizens.
“The systematic targeting of innocent civilians through aerial bombardments and the use of barrel bombs in Darfur and Kordofan… constitute grave war crimes…”
Pro-army media circulated a partial list of victims, which included five air crew and another major general, Bahar Ahmed Bahar, who had overseen operations in Khartoum Bahri.
Sudan Air Force attacks gold miners in Kordofan
In another development, Sudan’s military aviation bombed a gold mine in the Um Bar area of western North Kordofan on Tuesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, according to video evidence and local reports. Um Badr Youth Gathering, a local group, reported that the death toll was approximately 70.
Similarly, El Obeid Live, a regional media outlet, reported that “about 29 were killed and 82 miners injured in the mines of Um Badr city in North Kordafan state, following the armed forces airstrike yesterday evening,” before later updating the toll to more than 100 dead.
Video: Graphic Content Warning (Dead bodies, fire, injured civilians)
The Air Force previously bombed Um Badr in 2023 after some Kawahla tribal leaers pledged allegiance to the RSF. But the Um Badr Youth Gathering said that no RSF forces were present in the area, and the victims were innocent civilians.
There has been no ground fighting in the area, except farther east, in central and eastern North Kordofan State. The youth group called the attack a “chilling massacre.” In addition to the approximately 70 dead, there were “countless wounded,” it said.
Emergency Lawyers, a human rights group, blamed an Ilyushin aircraft of the military for the attack, saying it dropped explosive barrel bombs on artisanal mines in the area. It added that Hamrat al-Sheikh was subjected to similar bombing with explosive barrel bombs, which fell near civilian homes without causing casualties.
Emergency Lawyers said that targeting civilians indiscriminately constitutes a clear war crime and demanded immediate cessation of military operations against civilians.
RSF-controlled city bombed in South Kordofan
In another aviation-related development, the Sudanese military dropped eight explosive barrel bombs on Dabibat in South Kordofan State on Sunday, Radio Dabanga reported.
Citing an informed source who preferred to remain anonymous, Daabanga reported that the bombs fell inside Dabibat and its outskirts, including the village of Um Kanayt, northeast of the city, where a fuel market was hit, charring 13 fuel traders and citizens.
A bus station at the junction of the railway and the El Obeid-Kadugli road was also hit, resulting in a large number of casualties. Several other bombs landed elsewhere, without causing significant damage or casualties.
At least one military target was also hit, specifically an RSF base at the Taiba neighborhood intersection, which was previously the headquarters of an army battalion before the Rapid Support Forces took control of it more than a year ago.
The sources reported that Al-Dabaibat Hospital is crowded with wounded people and lacks medical personnel and supplies, and large numbers of wounded were transferred to the hospital in Abu Zabad, a nearby city.
The city of Dabibat is located in the northwest of South Kordofan, in an Arab-inhabited part of the state, in contrast to other parts of the state, where the population is mostly Nuba. The city lies along the road between two SAF-controlled cities El Obeid and Dilling. The aerial attacks coincide with SAF efforts elsewhere to reclaim this road, among other major transportation routes in the Kordofan region.
On Sunday, SAF forces operating from Talodi reached the city of El Obeid, ending a nearly two-year RSF siege of the city. SAF also has intensified operations to reclaim the Dilling-Kadugli road, clashing with SPLM-North fighters along this route.
These military developments, coupled with recent political developments—specifically a strengthening of high-level relations between SPLM-North and the RSF—have increased the likelihood of conflict escalation in South Kordofan.