RSF Drone Strike Kills at Least 30 Near Displacement Camp in Sudan’s Blue Nile

A drone strike blamed on Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces killed at least 30 people, mostly women and children, near a displacement camp in the Blue Nile region on Friday. The attack occurred in Wad al-Mahi locality outside the Abu Shandi shelter, close to an informal gold-mining site where women work for daily wages processing ore.

The governor of Wad al-Mahi said the drone was launched from inside Ethiopia and described the strike as cowardly. The Blue Nile regional government reported 30 deaths and called for an international investigation. Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking the war, put the toll at 41. UNICEF noted that five children under the age of ten were among the dead. The United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator Denise Brown said she was horrified and called for accountability for the disregard of international humanitarian law.

The RSF has not publicly commented. The strike is the latest in a series targeting the Blue Nile area as fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF, allied with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, has intensified near the Ethiopian border. Sudan has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of allowing RSF bases on its territory; Ethiopia has denied the claims. Nearly 100,000 people have been displaced across Blue Nile state this year according to UN figures.

The war, now in its fourth year, has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than 14 million. Both sides have used drones extensively. UN data indicate that drone attacks killed more than 1,100 people in the first five months of 2026 alone. The Blue Nile front adds pressure on the army, which is already engaged in Kordofan and other regions.

Survivors buried victims near the camp. The attack has drawn condemnation from humanitarian agencies and renewed calls for protection of displacement sites. No independent verification of the exact casualty figures has been possible amid the ongoing fighting.