Rights groups say drone strike killed more than 100 at Nyala market

A drone strike hit the crowded Tangong market in Nyala, South Darfur, on Monday evening, killing more than 100 people and injuring at least 113, according to Emergency Lawyers and other Sudanese monitoring groups. The Associated Press reported their account on Tuesday. Radio Tamazuj separately cited local officials and eyewitness contacts who put the preliminary toll at 102 dead.

Médecins Sans Frontières said South Darfur hospitals received dozens of bodies and treated about 150 wounded people after what it attributed to a Sudanese Armed Forces drone. Those figures were gathered through different networks and should not be combined into a single definitive count. The army had not publicly answered the latest allegation when the accounts were published, and independent investigators have not established responsibility.

Nyala is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, which have fought the army since April 2023. Markets are protected civilian sites unless they are being used for a military purpose, and even then international humanitarian law requires distinction and proportionality. The immediate needs are medical access, preservation of evidence and an independently verified casualty list; the severity of the reported toll does not remove the need to attribute it cautiously.