Civilian death toll tops 150 in Sudan Armed Forces attacks so far this month
Civilian death toll tops 150 in Sudan Armed Forces attacks so far this month
Nyala air raid yesterday added 40 victims to the tally
At least 150 civilians have died in bomb and missile attacks attributed to the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) within the past two weeks, including 40 in Nyala yesterday.
A medical source told AFP from Nyala yesterday, “Forty civilians have been killed in an air strike that hit two markets and a number of the city's neighborhoods.”
An eyewitness, speaking with Darfur 24, said that aircraft bombed the Malja Market in the north of the city, killing a large number of civilians: “After we heard the sound of the bombing, I went to the Malja Market and saw a number of citizens and tea sellers who were killed as a result of the bombing.”
In addition to the strike in the market, Darfur 24 and Radio Dabanga reported that bombs fell in several other places, including the High Dam neighborhood north of the Congo Cemeteries, the airport, and the popular market in the city’s south.
Counting the dead
Sudan War Monitor tallied the fatalities from seven attacks so far this month and concluded that the number of civilian dead was at least 150, conservatively.
Wad al-Agali, Kalakla al-Qubba, Khartoum
Date: September 2
Casualties: 21 civilians killed, 6 severely injured
Reported cause of the attack: “Airstrike” (Kalakla Emergency Room)
Geolocation of the attack site: 15.4431883, 32.4682369
Date: September 3
Casualties: 34 civilians killed, unconfirmed number of injured
Reported cause of the attack: “SAF artillery and drones” (Ombada Block 21 Resistance Committee, Ombada Emergency Response Room)
Location of the attack site: Photographed but not yet geolocated.
Al-Hajj Yusuf al-Wahda blocks 7 and 10, East Nile
Date: September 9
Casualties: Alban Jadid Hospital received 45 casualties, 6 of whom were dead on arrival. Other victims were buried without being taken to hospital, according to the East Nile Emergency Room.
Reported cause of the attack: “airstrike” (East Nile Emergency Room)
Geolocation of the attack site: 15.615276 32.649899
Date: September 10
Fatalities: 43 dead (MSF), more than 60 wounded; 46 dead (Southern Belt Emergency Room)
Reported cause of the attack: “Airstrike” (Southern Belt Emergency Room)
Geolocation of the attack site: 15.488908, 32.535643
“The horror of the day was overwhelming. For hours, dozens of bodies lay under sheets in the hospital’s courtyard until their families came to identify their lost loved ones. And in the meantime, our staff tried their best to save the lives of the survivors, whose wounds were testament to the incredible power of the weaponry used: body parts torn off, abdomens ripped open… the Sudanese volunteers on whom the hospital relies are still shocked by what they witnessed.”
— MSF emergency coordinator Marie Burton on the Gorro Market attack
Dar al-Salaam, East Nile (near Hillat Koko Market)
Date: September 12
Casualties: Unconfirmed number of dead; 10 wounded (MSF)
Note: not all of the casualties in this attack were civilians, as video shows at least one wounded RSF soldier being carried away after the attack.
Reported cause of the attack: “drone” (East Nile Emergency Room)
Geolocation of the attack site: 15.6103595, 32.6029342
Ombada al-Amir (Ombada Block 4)
Date: September 12
Casualties: 6 dead, several wounded (Ombada al-Amir Emergency Room)
Reported cause of the attack: “a missile projectile from an Armed Forces aircraft, leading to the death of six people, a number of serious injuries and the destruction of a number of homes” (Emergency Room of Ombada al-Amir).
Location of the attack site: Photographed but not yet geolocated.
Malja market and other locations, Nyala, South Darfur
Date: September 13
Casualties: 40 civilian deaths, dozens of injured (AFP and Radio Dabanga, citing medical sources)
Reported cause of the attack: “Antonov airplane” (Radio Dabanga, citing witnesses; video of the aircraft)
Location of the attack site: Photographed but not yet geolocated.
Total fatalities: 150
The above tally includes only incidents involving SAF aircraft; it does not include incidents of civilians killed by bullets, nor victims of RSF artillery fire.
The difficulty with counting the dead is that sometimes even local medical sources don’t know how many people died in an attack. For example, regarding the two recent attacks in East Nile, the East Nile Emergency Room estimated that there were at least 45 civilians killed and 120 injured, but it could not give an exact tally, explaining:
We don't have the actual number of injured and deaths so far, because some of them have been treated at home, and some of the deceased have been buried without being brought to treatment centers where our young volunteers are.
Your sons in the East Nile Emergency Room participated with the residents of the area in the funeral procession for a number of the deceased, at least two of whom were buried without being identified, for fear of the bodies decomposing in the hospital, and for the fact that they were impossible to be recognized by sight, saving the place and number of the cemetery.
If this number is accurate (45 civilians killed), then the actual death toll from SAF airstrikes so far this month is closer to 200 than 150.
MSF, in a press release about two attacks over the weekend, noted that the casualty figures it reports “only account for patients directly treated by MSF teams.”
USA calls for ‘accountability for perpetrators of atrocities’
The attacks against civilians in Sudan are stoking growing international criticism and condemnation. Yesterday, Matthew Miller, the US State Department spokesperson, issued the following statement:
The United States is alarmed by the recent increase of indiscriminate air and artillery strikes in Sudan, including in Khartoum, South Darfur, and South Kordofan states, which have resulted in high numbers of civilian casualties. We are particularly concerned with the reported Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) September 10 air strike in southern Khartoum that killed at least 43 people, the August 23 shelling exchange between SAF and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that killed at least 27 people – most of them women and children – in Nyala and continued shelling in a number of areas, including with the use of barrel bombs.
Both parties have instigated unrelenting violence that has caused death and destruction across Sudan. As we have said before, both parties must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, including obligations related to the protection of civilians. The SAF and RSF each affirmed those responsibilities in the May 11 Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, and each has failed to live up to them in the months since. The United States continues to support accountability for perpetrators of atrocities in Sudan.
The warring parties must end this brutal conflict. The Sudanese people deserve freedom, peace, and justice.
UN aid chief ‘appalled’ by attacks
Similarly, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, issued the following statement yesterday:
I am appalled by the killing of dozens of civilians in an attack on a crowded market in southern Khartoum on Sunday, 10 September 2023. Scores more were injured, many of them critically. This incident is just the latest example of the daily horrors that civilians in Sudan continue to face, especially in highly populated areas.
Four months ago, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) signed the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan. The very first commitment outlined in that document reads: “We agree that the interests and well-being of the Sudanese people are our top priority and affirm our commitment to ensure that civilians are protected at all times.”The ongoing killing of civilians in Khartoum, Nyala, Al Fasher and other areas underscores the fact that the parties to this conflict are not honouring the pledges they signed up to on 11 May or the fundamental rules of international law underpinning them. This includes the obligation to take all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize civilian harm and refrain from any disproportionate attack.
I call on the SAF, RSF and all armed actors participating in the armed conflict to respect international humanitarian law and take immediate steps to safeguard civilians. The people of Sudan have suffered far too much already.
Sudan War Monitor is an independent open-source monitoring initiative that began after the outbreak of conflict in April 2023. We are not affiliated with any party in the war.