El Fasher, August 10 (Darfur24)
Drone strikes hit the cities of El Fasher and Kabkabiya in North Darfur State on Monday, reportedly causing deaths and injuries and damaging homes and public facilities, according to local, medical, and eyewitness sources.
Local sources told Darfur24 that drones believed to belong to the Sudanese army targeted several locations in El Fasher, marking the second consecutive week of drone attacks on the city.
A medical source in El Fasher, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a drone carried out heavy strikes on several areas of the city last week before renewing the attacks on Monday, targeting locations north and east of El Fasher.
The source said the strikes were accompanied by loud explosions and columns of smoke. Last week’s attacks reportedly caused casualties and destroyed several homes, while the extent of the losses from Monday’s strikes remained unclear.
In Kabkabiya, about 155 kilometers west of El Fasher, eyewitnesses and local sources reported that a drone struck parts of the Al-Shati neighbourhood and western areas of the city.
Ahmed Al-Tayeb, a leader of the Native Administration in North Darfur, told Darfur24 that the strikes caused human casualties and damaged public facilities, but did not provide a specific figure.
Al-Tayeb said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) temporarily shut down satellite internet and Wi-Fi services in the city following the strikes and transported some of the injured to the hospital and Al-Shati Health Center.
Darfur24 was unable to independently verify the number of casualties or determine the precise nature of the sites targeted because of communications outages in the area.
The RSF seized control of El Fasher last October following prolonged fighting with the Sudanese army and the Joint Force, after an 18-month siege of the North Darfur capital.
Since the outbreak of the war in April 2023, both sides have increasingly relied on drones in combat, with attacks reported against military positions as well as populated areas across several Sudanese states.