A drone strike launched by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Friday killed six people and wounded 12 others in a hospital in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, military and medical sources said.
The RSF targeted the Social Insurance Hospital with a drone strike while simultaneously shelling residential areas with heavy artillery fire. An army source said a second hospital in the city center was also hit during the strike.
A medical officer at El-Obeid Hospital, the city’s main health facility, confirmed the casualties and said the Social Insurance Hospital had to be closed due to extensive damage.
El-Obeid, located about 400 kilometers southwest of Khartoum, has long been a strategic stronghold. The city was under RSF siege for nearly two years before Sudanese government forces advanced as part of a broader counter-offensive that included retaking the capital Khartoum in February. Despite the army’s advances, El-Obeid continues to face repeated RSF bombardments.
The city remains a vital supply hub as government forces attempt to maintain control of El-Fasher, the last provincial capital in Darfur held by the army. Fierce fighting between RSF and army forces has intensified in recent weeks along the road connecting El-Obeid to El-Fasher.
On Thursday, the RSF claimed to have recaptured the town of El-Khoei, about 100 kilometers west of El-Obeid, reversing an earlier loss to the army. They also announced the recapture of Dibeibat in South Kordofan, another strategic town previously retaken by government troops.