Atbara, June 18 (Darfur24)
The death toll from Tuesday’s airstrikes on artisanal gold mining sites in the Jabal al-Uqaydat area along the Sudanese-Egyptian border has risen to more than 30, while over 50 people have been injured and dozens remain missing, according to local sources and eyewitnesses in River Nile State.
The strikes targeted mining areas in the remote border region, prompting thousands of miners to flee amid continuing uncertainty over the fate of those who escaped into surrounding mountains and valleys.
Abdulrahman Suleiman, a survivor of the attack, told Darfur24 that rescue teams recovered more than 30 bodies from the targeted area and evacuated over 50 wounded miners to hospitals in Atbara for treatment.
He said dozens of people remain unaccounted for after fleeing into nearby mountainous and desert areas during the bombardment.
“The search is still ongoing,” Suleiman said, adding that many miners scattered across the region in an attempt to escape the strikes.
According to local accounts, thousands of miners have since left the area, heading toward Wadi Al-Alaqi, Al-Ansari, Souq Nuwayrai, and Abu Hamad.
Ali Suleiman Ibrahim, a relative of several victims, told Darfur24 that six members of his family were among those killed. The victims were residents of Umm Damir in North Kordofan’s Umm Rawaba locality and had been working in the mining area for several months.
He identified the deceased as Bashir Dafaa Al-Sayed, Al-Tayeb Jardoul, Jaafar Ibrahim, Saif Al-Din Al-Toumi, Ahmed Al-Hadi, and Mansour Al-Nadheef.
An official in the mining sector, speaking on condition of anonymity, said three unidentified aircraft carried out the attack, although the motive behind the strikes remains unclear.
The official suggested the incident may be linked to tensions that erupted in the region in March, when Sudanese miners reportedly expelled an Egyptian mining company operating in the border area and burned some of its equipment.
According to the official, the incident led to clashes between miners and Egyptian border guards, resulting in the deaths of more than nine miners and injuries to 13 others. He also claimed that the commander of the attacking force was killed during those confrontations.
The official further alleged that Egyptian authorities subsequently deployed additional military forces to the area and accused them of confiscating miners’ gold production, burning shelters, destroying food supplies, and conducting continuous aerial surveillance using drones.
He also claimed that the Shalateen Mineral Resources Company, in cooperation with the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, operates in mining areas within the disputed border zone.
Neither the Sudanese nor the Egyptian governments had issued an official statement regarding the airstrikes at the time of publication.
Darfur24 was unable to independently verify the final number of casualties due to restricted access to the area and limited information from medical facilities and rescue teams.
Artisanal mining zones along the Sudanese-Egyptian border have experienced recurring security tensions in recent years. In March, at least nine miners were killed and several others injured during clashes involving traditional miners and Egyptian border guards in the Wadi Al-Ansari border area.