Drone Attacks Hospital in Kornoi, Killing Seven
RSF drone targets town sheltering troops that escaped from El Fasher
A drone believed to be operated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked a hospital and several houses in the rural town of Kornoi in North Darfur State, Monday, November 3, killing seven people and injuring five others.
Kornoi is controlled by the Joint Force, a coalition of former rebels that has sided with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against their common enemy the RSF. The town is reported to have received survivors from the Joint Force and SAF garrison in El Fasher after the fall of that city. It is located nearly 300 km northwest of El Fasher in the direction of the Chad-Sudan border.
The hospital may have been targeted because the RSF believed it was treating wounded fighters. Both sides in Sudan’s war have attacked hospitals, demonstrating that they believe that wounded combatants are legitimate targets of war. However, the Sudan Doctors Network said the seven victims of the attack were civilians, including women and children.
Video taken at the hospital shows extensive damage and bloodstains. The below video was confirmed through geolocation.
The Sudan Doctors Network condemned the attack, saying, “What happened in Kornoi is a full-fledged war crime… The Sudan Doctors’ Network holds the Rapid Support Forces fully responsible for this crime and calls on the international community and human rights and medical organizations to break their shameful silence and fulfill their duty toward a people being exterminated before the eyes of the world.”
Darfur24, a local news network, said that the drone fired more than six missiles, targeting the rural hospital and several houses on the outskirts of the Kornoi, causing a fire and widespread panic among the residents.
According to witnesses who spoke to Darfur24, Sudanese army and Joint Force troops stationed in the town fired a barrage of bullets attempting to shoot down the drone, which flew over the town for more than an hour.
RSF drone strikes were also reported in Abu Gamra and the border town of Tina, areas controlled by the SAF-allied Joint Force.
Background: Who Are the RSF?
The Rapid Support Forces are an umbrella group of Arab tribal militias, colloquially called the Janjaweed. Originally armed and funded by the dictator Omar al-Bashir as part of a counter-insurgency campaign in Darfur, they were formalized as a state paramilitary in 2013 and given a broader national security remit. They mutinied in 2023, triggering the current civil war.
The RSF’s constituent militias committed many ethnic killings during the last Darfur war, particularly in its early phase from 2003-2005. They also became known for crimes of sexual violence against women and girls. The same fighters, and their sons, are again perpetrating atrocities in Darfur, this time as part of an even larger national conflict.
The RSF has received support from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which opposes Sudan’s military-led government because of its close ties to Islamist political parties, including the leaders and successors of Bashir’s National Islamic Front, later rebranded as the National Congress Party.
Operating from rear bases in Chad, the UAE has supplied the RSF with drones and other advanced weaponry. Although the UAE officially denies supporting the RSF, it is publicly critical of the military-led Sudanese government, which it calls the “Port Sudan Authority” rather than the Government of Sudan.
After two and a half years of war, the Rapid Support Forces dominate most of Darfur and parts of the Kordofan region, while the Sudanese military controls the east and central parts of the country. However, a northwestern corner of Darfur, coinciding with the historic territory of the Zaghawa tribe, is controlled by the Joint Force. This group is allied with SAF.
The capture of El Fasher by the RSF last week is a serious blow to the SAF and the Joint Force, which had defended El Fasher since March 2024. The latest attacks in Kornoi signal that the RSF likely intends to campaign against the Joint Force in the Dar Zaghawa region next. During the previous Darfur war, the RSF’s predecessor militias burned many villages in this area.