Abyei market drone strike death toll jumps to 153 as fire still burns

The death toll from Monday’s drone strike on a market in the disputed Abyei region has jumped from 73 to 153 and is expected to rise further, the region’s caretaker information minister told Reuters on Tuesday.

“The fire is still burning. So the recovery process of the dead ones is still continuing. The situation is terrible,” Yohana Akol Ngor said, adding that some bodies had been burned to ashes. A video filmed at the scene on Tuesday and verified by Reuters showed the charred and twisted remains of vehicles and buildings, with flames still billowing from one building.

Ngor blamed Sudan’s army for the attack but provided no evidence. A senior Sudanese military officer confirmed to the Associated Press that the army carried out the strike, saying it targeted fuel tankers arriving from South Sudan that were bound for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). “We do not target civilians,” the officer said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to speak to the press; the AP said it could not independently verify his account. Three diplomatic sources, an aid worker and an expert on the conflict told Reuters the strike hit a fuel depot in the market that had in the past been used by the RSF to supply its forces; an RSF spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations strongly condemned the series of drone attacks in Abyei and other areas. Some 8,000 people were displaced by Monday’s bombing, Ngor said. South Sudan’s foreign ministry summoned the Sudanese ambassador in protest late on Monday.

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said it was treating more than 20 wounded people, some with burns, at the nearby Ameth Bek Hospital. “We are providing surgical services and wound dressing, along with other emergency care,” said Christian Lindauer, MSF’s medical activities manager at the facility. An eyewitness told Reuters he heard five large explosions that set the fuel market ablaze, saw 28 burnt bodies, and saw no sign of RSF or other uniformed fighters in the market, where sugar, flour and biscuits are also sold for shipment into Sudan.

The strike caps one of the bloodiest weeks of Sudan’s war: on Sunday, drone attacks in RSF-controlled West Kordofan killed some 84 people and injured 65, according to the local Emergency Response Room; on Monday, four children were killed after repeated drone attacks targeted army-controlled Khartoum airport; and on Friday, an attack on a market in the RSF stronghold of Nyala killed 23 people and injured 44, according to volunteers.

Sources: Reuters via The Straits Times · CNN (AP) · SABC News