Drone attack kills over 150 people in South Sudan market, official says

NAIROBI, Kenya — South Sudanese officials said Sudan’s military had carried out drone strikes that hit a market in the disputed Abyei region, killing over 150 people, one of the deadliest attacks in a war that has spilled across Sudan’s borders.

The strike showed the lethality of airstrikes in Sudan’s war, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), triggering a major humanitarian crisis and drawing in local militias and foreign powers.

According to local authorities, the attack that hit the market in Abyei took place around midday on Monday. Yohana Akol Ngor, the caretaker minister of information in Abyei, told Reuters on Tuesday that the death toll had jumped to 153 from 73.

He said Sudan’s army was responsible for the attack, without providing evidence. A spokesperson for Sudan’s armed forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Three diplomatic sources, an aid worker and an expert on the conflict told Reuters the strike hit a fuel depot in the market. The diplomatic sources said the depot had been used in the past by the RSF to supply its forces. A spokesperson for the RSF did not immediately…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/world