26 killed in two separate attacks in Sudan’s South Kordofan

Khartoum: At least 26 people were killed and dozens injured in two separate attacks in Sudan’s South Kordofan State, multiple sources have said.

The Sudan Doctors Network, a volunteer group, said in a statement on Friday (local time) that more than 21 people, including women and children, were killed and others injured on Thursday afternoon in an attack by forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), an ally of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), on Debi and Luwairi, south and west of Kauda.

In a separate incident early Friday, five people, including a child, were killed and others injured in artillery shelling by SPLM-N forces that struck the city of Dilling, the network said in a separate statement.

The network condemned the attack on Debi and Luwairi as a violation of a ceasefire agreement reached in late August and accused SPLM-N of targeting civilians, reports Xinhua news agency.

A medical source at a rural hospital in Debi told Xinhua that more than 20 bodies and 11 injured had arrived at the facility, with civilians fleeing the area amid fears of worsening humanitarian conditions.

In Dilling, an eyewitness told Xinhua that artillery hit residential neighbourhoods, killing about five civilians and injuring more than seven.

SPLM-N has not commented on the allegations.

SPLM-N, established in 2011, controls parts of South Kordofan and Blue Nile State.

Sudan’s Kordofan states have witnessed fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on one side and the RSF and SPLM-N on the other, as part of a broader conflict that began in April 2023.

Now in its fourth year, the conflict has killed thousands and displaced millions inside and outside the country.

IANS