At least 70 killed in Sudan hospital drone attack

Doctors at the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, resort to the flashlights on their mobile phones to perform surgery when shelling by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces caused a power outage earlier this month (Photo: SUNA)

DARFUR, Sudan - At least 70 people were killed and dozens wounded in a drone attack that targeted one of the largest functioning hospitals in Sudan's Darfur region, officials said, terming it the worst 'catastrophe' since the war escalated in the country.

The attack on the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital within El-Fasher on Friday "led to the destruction" of the hospital's building where emergency cases were treated, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation.

“The appalling attack on Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, led to 19 injuries and 70 deaths among patients and companions,” said Tedros, WHO boss. “At the time of the attack, the hospital was packed with patients receiving care.”

According to Radio Dabanga reporting on the Darfur crisis, the attack on Friday night destroyed the hospital’s emergency department, leaving the city without its only fully operational health facility. The Saudi hospital, a lifeline for obstetrics, pediatrics, and surgery, has been repeatedly shelled.

So far, it is not clear which of the warring sides engineered the attack. The Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have been fighting for the last two years, leaving several people dead and thousands displaced.

The war is yet to be controlled but the United States issued sanctions on both General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudan Armed Forces and Hamdan Daglo, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, who is keen to take over the control of the government.

The RSF besieged El-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, since May, but has not managed to claim the city, where army-aligned militias have repeatedly pushed them back. A medical source told AFP that the paramilitary forces hit the same building with a drone "a few weeks ago".

Attacks on health care have been rampant in El-Fasher, where medical charity Doctors Without Borders said this month the Saudi Hospital was "the only public hospital with surgical capacity still standing".

Currently, hundreds of the health facilities across Sudan are dysfunctional. The country has been unstable since 2019 when the Sudan Armed Forces took over the government following a civilian uprising that led to the removal of Omar al-Bashir.

The United Nations and the United States have been trying to bring the warring teams to the table but such advances are yet to materialise. The army toppled civilian leadership in 2021 and since then, it has been having absolute control of the government.

GAROWE ONLINE