Nyala, September 11 (Darfur24)
Eight people, including two civilians, were killed and others injured on Wednesday in a drone strike targeting the state government secretariat building in Nyala, South Darfur State, eyewitnesses and local sources reported.
A senior source in the administration affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said a drone, believed to belong to the Sudanese army, struck the northern section of the building at midday. Among the dead were Al-Naqi Mukhtar Barma, director of protocol in the administration; advisor Al-Nadhir Younis Mukhair; and a young shoe shiner who had been working nearby.
The source added that five members of the personal guard of the head of the civil administration, Yusuf Idris Yusuf, were also killed. The victims included Idris’s cousin, his nephew, and three other guards.
At Barma’s funeral in Al-Salam neighborhood, a relative told Darfur24 that he had been pressured into joining the RSF after repeated arrests. Before the war, Barma had served in the government secretariat’s protocol department, a position previously held by his late father for more than two decades.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses in Karari district said Idris received condolences at his home for the deaths of his nephew and cousin. A secretariat employee told Darfur24 that Idris had left the building about 15 minutes before the strike to attend a meeting with Darfur’s parallel government governor, Al-Hadi Idris, at his residence in Nyala.
Nyala has seen repeated aerial bombardments since the conflict began, including deadly strikes in August and December. The most recent attack before Wednesday occurred last week, targeting Al-Sahini Square and Hamdo Hall in the city center.