Al-Tina, February 13 (Darfur24)
Drone strikes believed to have been carried out by the Rapid Support Forces hit the Sudanese border town of Al-Tina on Wednesday, killing at least six civilians and wounding six others, while also targeting a military convoy, according to local sources.
The attacks, which struck a market and army vehicles, have sparked fear among residents and ongoing displacement toward refugee camps in neighboring Chad.
A medical source inside Chad, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Darfur24 that the wounded were transferred to Mabrouka Hospital, supported by Doctors Without Borders.
A Sudanese military source said the drone launched more than four missiles targeting a vehicle carrying army commander Brigadier General Mohamed Suleiman. The strike reportedly killed the commander’s driver and two of his guards, as well as the driver of an army tanker truck. The source added that the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied joint forces remain in control of the town and have carried out retaliatory drone strikes against Rapid Support Forces positions.
An eyewitness identified as Ayoub Abdel Rahman told Darfur24 that one of the strikes hit a gathering at a local market on the town’s outskirts, causing civilian casualties. He described the persistent drone activity over Al-Tina as a daily source of terror, prompting continued displacement from surrounding neighborhoods and villages toward refugee camps across the border.
Videos circulating on social media, verified by Darfur24, showed hundreds of Sudanese fleeing Al-Tina and arriving in Chad aboard vehicles operated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders reported that two separate drone attacks on Al-Tina killed ten people and injured 25 others. In another incident at the beginning of February, a drone strike targeting a commercial convoy on the road linking Al-Tina and Farouk reportedly killed four people and injured more than ten.
Al-Tina, along with the towns of Karnoi and Ambro, remains among the last areas in Darfur held by the Sudanese army and allied forces, after the Rapid Support Forces and allied groups seized control of much of the region, including the key city of Al-Fashir last October.