At least 50 people, including 33 children, were killed when a drone struck a kindergarten in Kalogi town in South Kordofan, the Sudan Doctors’ Network said. The group added that paramedics at the scene were hit in a second, unexpected strike. Rights group Emergency Lawyers said that second attack targeted medics treating survivors and that a third nearby civilian site was also struck. Both organisations blamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the strikes and condemned them as clear violations of international humanitarian law, including protections for civilians, children and essential civilian infrastructure. Authorities warned the death toll is likely to rise, but communications blackouts in the area have hampered casualty reporting and independent verification. Thursday’s assault is the latest episode in more than two years of fighting between the RSF and Sudan’s armed forces, which in recent weeks has intensified in the oil-rich Kordofan states. UNICEF’s representative for Sudan, Sheldon Yett, called the killing of children at school ‘a horrific violation of children’s rights’ and urged all parties to halt attacks immediately and to allow safe, unhindered humanitarian access to those in desperate need. Hundreds of civilians have been killed across the Kordofan region as fighting shifted from Darfur after the RSF seized the besieged city of el-Fasher. In a separate incident on Sunday, Sudanese military aerial strikes killed at least 48 people, mostly civilians, in Kauda, South Kordofan. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned that Kordofan risks new atrocities similar to those seen in el-Fasher if the violence continues unchecked.
