Dozens Killed in SAF Drone Strike on Local Market in West Kordofan
Strike on RSF-held Gbeish market follows expanding SAF aerial campaign across Kordofan and Darfur
Dozens of civilians were killed on Tuesday after a suspected Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) drone strike hit the local market in Gbeish town, West Kordofan State, according to local sources, rights monitors, and statements reviewed by Sudan War Monitor.
The exact casualty toll remained unclear by Tuesday evening, with some local and rights sources placing the death toll at around 20, while others said at least 28 civilians were killed. Sudan War Monitor has learned that additional victims later succumbed to injuries after being transferred to Gbeish Hospital, raising fears the final toll could rise further.
The strike occurred around 11:00 a.m. local time inside Gbeish’s main commercial market, a densely crowded civilian area under Rapid Support Forces (RSF) control. Footage geolocated by Sudan War Monitor to the central market, here 12° 9’11.07”N, 27°19’55.22”E showed bodies scattered across the marketplace.
⚠️ Warning: Graphic Content ⚠️
In this video, bodies are seen on the ground in the aftermath of the attack. Sudan War Monitor geolocated the footage to: 12° 9’11.07”N, 27°19’55.22”E.
Witness accounts indicate the strike initially targeted an RSF vehicle moving near the market before a second munition struck a crowded restaurant identified by local sources as Wad al-Faki restaurant, where civilians had gathered for breakfast during peak market activity.
Local medical personnel said the wounded were evacuated to Gbeish Hospital, which has struggled with shortages of medicine, surgical supplies, and staff after three years of war-related disruption across the country.
The Sudanese military did not issue any statement regarding the incident.
The RSF itself also did not release an official statement. However, the Sudan Founding Alliance, commonly known as Tasis, a coalition of armed and political groups led by the RSF, accused the SAF of carrying out the strike and described it as part of a broader campaign targeting civilian infrastructure in areas outside army control.
In a statement, Tasis spokesperson Ahmed Taqaddus Al-Sann said the strike killed 28 civilians and wounded 41 others, including women and children, while damaging large sections of the market and surrounding civilian property.
The coalition said Gbeish lies far from active frontline operations and argued the strike reflected what it described as systematic SAF attacks on markets, civilian gatherings, and infrastructure using drones and warplanes.
“This morning, a drone aircraft belonging to the authority of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group in Port Sudan targeted the market of Gbeish city in West Kordofan State, resulting in the killing of 28 civilians and the injury of 41 others, including women and children, in addition to the destruction of a large part of the market and damage to numerous civilian facilities and citizens’ properties.”
“The Sudan Founding Alliance (Tasis) condemns the conduct of the authority of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group in Port Sudan, which has adopted a policy of targeting civilians, markets, human gatherings, civilian facilities, and infrastructure using drone aircraft. This has led to the killing and displacement of civilians, worsened their humanitarian conditions, and increased their suffering, noting that Gbeish city is located far from combat zones and frontlines.”
“This conduct, and the systematic targeting of civilians and the use of civilians as a tool of war by the authority of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group in Port Sudan, constitutes a flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law and the rules of engagement, particularly the principle of distinction between military targets and civilian objects,” the statement reads.
Two Darfur-based rights organizations separately condemned the strike, describing it as a direct attack on civilians inside a crowded marketplace. Both groups said women, elderly civilians, and children were among the casualties.
The incident adds to a growing pattern of SAF aerial bombardments targeting towns and markets in RSF-controlled regions of Darfur and Kordofan since the war began in April 2023.
Over the past three years, Sudan War Monitor has documented repeated SAF airstrikes on marketplaces in Al-Koma, Melit, Hamrat al-Sheikh, Nyala, Koma, and other localities located far from active combat zones. In many cases, the attacks occurred during peak commercial hours and resulted in high civilian casualties.
The SAF’s expanding reliance on drones and airpower comes as the military continues to face operational difficulties on the ground across western Sudan. While the army retains air superiority, RSF forces continue to dominate large sections of Darfur and parts of Kordofan, including strategic rural corridors and transport routes.
Gbeish itself sits inside a broader RSF-controlled belt stretching across large areas of West Kordofan and neighboring Darfur regions. The area has increasingly come within range of SAF drone operations launched from military positions further east and north.
The SAF air campaign increasingly serves both tactical and political objectives. Beyond targeting RSF logistical movement, repeated strikes on commercial centers appear aimed at disrupting civilian life and undermining economic activity in territories administered or influenced by the RSF.
The attacks also carry a strong ethnic dimension.
Much of Darfur and western Kordofan is inhabited by Arab tribal communities historically linked — politically, socially, or militarily — to the RSF network that emerged from the Janjaweed militias of the Darfur conflict. Critics of the SAF and allied Islamist factions accuse the military of increasingly treating these regions as hostile social environments supporting the RSF insurgency.
The SAF has consistently denied deliberately targeting civilians and maintains that its operations focus on legitimate military objectives associated with RSF deployments.
However, recurring strikes on markets, restaurants, residential areas, and transport hubs far from active battlefronts have intensified accusations that the military’s aerial campaign is increasingly blurring the distinction between civilian and military targets.
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