RSF drone attack kills 27 in southeast Sudan: Report 

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed 27 people in a reported drone attack on a Sudanese army base in the southeastern city of Sinja, a military source told Al Jazeera.

Monday’s attack coincided with an announcement a day prior that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) would be returning to the capital, Khartoum, three years after it had shifted its base of operations to Port Sudan.

The SAF and the RSF have been locked in a brutal civil war since April 2023, with Khartoum serving as a central area of dispute.

The military source, who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said Monday’s drone attack targeted not only leaders in the government forces but also the security teams and civilians accompanying them.

It was unclear how many people were wounded in the attack.

Al Jazeera received reports that 13 people were injured, while some estimates have put the number much higher. The AFP news agency put the total at 73 wounded, citing military and health sources.

Qamar al-Din Fadl al-Mawla, the governor of Sudan’s White Nile state, was among the officials in Sinja at the time of the attack, according to a government statement. While he survived, two of his colleagues were reportedly killed.

Sinja, the capital of Sennar state, is located along a key route to Khartoum, some 300km (180 miles) to the north.

It also houses the headquarters of the SAF’s 17th Infantry Division, which was the apparent target of Monday’s attack.

RSF adviser Al-Basha Tibiq indicated on the social media platform Facebook that the drone attack was intended to send a warning to the Sudanese military leaders.

However, Salah Adam Abdullah, a spokesperson for the Sennar state government, described the SAF as repelling the drone attack. “The army’s anti-aircraft defences dealt with it,” he said.

He added that the shelling resulted in losses and injuries among civilians, but that life has now returned to normal in the city.

Despite its strategic position as an artery to the government-controlled east, Sinja has largely avoided the worst of the fighting since the Sudanese military regained control in 2024. Sennar state was last targeted by drones in October.

The civil war is now midway through its third year, with the SAF renewing efforts for an operation to retake the Kordofan and Darfur regions from the RSF.

The SAF said on Friday it had inflicted heavy losses on the RSF during a series of air and ground operations in the two regions, pushing RSF fighters out of some areas and killing hundreds more.

On Sunday, Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris announced the government’s return to Khartoum, after the army recaptured the city in May. The government has pursued a gradual return in the months since.

In the early days of the civil war, the RSF took control of the capital, forcing the army-aligned government to flee. Port Sudan has served as the government’s wartime capital in the meantime.

Fierce fighting and global funding cuts have pushed more than 21 million people in Sudan — nearly 45 percent of the population — towards starvation in what has become one of the world’s severest humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations.

On Friday, the war hit its 1,000th day. The conflict has forced an estimated 13.6 million people from their homes, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis, according to the UN.