A crowded market in Nyala, the capital of Sudan's South Darfur state, has become the site of another mass-casualty drone attack, with more than 100 people reportedly killed and scores wounded. The bombing on Monday evening, October 26, struck a commercial neighbourhood in a city controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), exposing civilians to a war increasingly fought through aerial attacks far from conventional front lines.
Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese legal group documenting violence against civilians, said the strike hit Tanqong Market in Nyala's Dumaya neighbourhood, killing more than 100 people and injuring 113. The organisation accused the Sudanese Armed Forces of carrying out the attack and called for an independent investigation. Many of those affected were reportedly women and children.
Medical personnel have provided a separate account of the destruction. In an October 27 statement, Médecins Sans Frontières reported that Nyala Teaching Hospital, which it supports, had received 36 bodies, including 21 people wearing civilian clothing. Its emergency department treated more than 150 wounded patients, some suffering from severe burns and shrapnel injuries.
The medical organisation said the first strike occurred around 8 p.m., followed by another attack on a residential neighbourhood. Its account attributes the bombing to the Sudanese military. The difference between the hospital's confirmed body count and the higher toll reported by Emergency Lawyers has not been reconciled, and the full number of victims remains uncertain.
Nyala has emerged as an important administrative and military centre for the RSF since the paramilitary group took control of the city in 2023. Its markets also sustain communities across South Darfur, providing food, household necessities and commercial connections for residents whose access to supplies has been severely disrupted by the war.
The October 26 attack was not Nyala's first market bombing this month. MSF recorded an earlier drone strike at Al-Mawashi Market on October 16 that killed at least four people and injured others. Elsewhere, the reported deaths of 153 people in an October 19 strike on Abyei's Amiet Market had already raised concerns over the Sudanese military's use of drones around civilian trading centres.
The escalation extends across both sides of Sudan's divided territory. The RSF has also been accused of launching drone attacks against electricity infrastructure in Khartoum, Al-Jazirah, Gedaref, Sennar and White Nile states, damaging essential services in areas controlled by the army.
On October 23, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that his office had documented at least 306 deaths from drone attacks during the first three weeks of October alone. The attacks, attributed to both warring parties, have struck homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites and infrastructure needed for water and electricity.
Sudan's humanitarian emergency is worsening alongside the violence. Darfur and Kordofan face severe food shortages, failed harvests and restricted aid access, pressures examined in a recent assessment of Sudan's growing famine risk. Repeated attacks on markets further reduce the places where civilians can obtain essential supplies.
For Nyala's residents, the threat now extends to the commercial spaces on which daily survival depends. The October 26 bombing has left families searching for relatives, hospitals treating severe injuries and another civilian marketplace damaged in a conflict where neither side has demonstrated an effective commitment to protecting populated areas.
