A RSF drone strike on El Obeid has killed at least two people and wounded 17 others, including nine children and three women, after the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary targeted a displacement shelter in Sudan’s North Kordofan state capital on Monday.
The Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement that the strike hit a unified displacement shelter inside the city, condemning what it described as the deliberate targeting of civilians fleeing violence.
The network called the attack a blatant violation of humanitarian law and international norms, and urged the international community and humanitarian organisations to press for an end to strikes on civilian sites. The Sudan Doctors Network said the RSF drone strike on El Obeid demonstrated the growing danger faced by civilians seeking refuge in displacement centres.
Monday’s RSF drone strike on El Obeid is part of a sustained campaign that has now stretched nearly two weeks. The Sudan Doctors Network said continued attacks have endangered civilians and worsened humanitarian conditions across the city, which shelters hundreds of thousands of people, many displaced by Sudan’s wider civil war.
The African regional bloc IGAD, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, called on Monday for an immediate halt to attacks on El Obeid as international pressure mounted over the deteriorating situation. IGAD warned that continued incidents such as the RSF drone strike on El Obeid could further destabilise the region and worsen humanitarian conditions.
Previous RSF drone strikes on El Obeid have targeted the city’s main power station, fuel depots, and other civilian facilities, according to Sudan Tribune. The UN aid coordination office OCHA warned on Monday that escalating violence in and around El Obeid was putting civilians at increased risk and disrupting essential services, in a report published by UN News.
The Sudan Doctors Network reported that the attacks forced the closure of several medical facilities, including a dialysis centre, and caused the shutdown of water stations serving more than one million residents.
In mid-June alone, reported drone attacks killed between 19 and 23 civilians in El Obeid, with additional fatalities recorded across wider parts of North Kordofan in the following days.
The United States said on Monday it had recently spoken directly with RSF leadership, urging the group to halt any actions endangering civilians in and around El Obeid. The US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs stated on social media that Washington was deeply concerned by the military mobilisation of RSF and allied forces around the city.
The UN Security Council expressed alarm over reports of substantial RSF reinforcements being deployed around El Obeid, warning of the imminent risk of mass atrocities. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk had separately raised the alarm the week prior. Diplomats said the RSF drone strike on El Obeid has heightened concerns about a possible escalation of fighting around the city.
Analysts at the security think tank Critical Threats have warned that each RSF drone strike on El Obeid follows a pattern the paramilitary has used before successful ground offensives, as seen ahead of the fall of el-Fasher in October 2025.
The UN warned last month that drone strikes killed at least 880 civilians across Sudan’s Kordofan region between January and April this year. The RSF drone strike on El Obeid on Monday adds to a death toll from a conflict that has killed tens of thousands since the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF erupted in April 2023, displacing nearly 13 million people across the country.
The RSF has not commented on Monday’s attack on the displacement shelter. The latest RSF Drone Strike on El Obeid adds to mounting international concern over civilian safety as fighting intensifies across Sudan.
