Sudan14 September, 20263 min read
Rapid Support Forces Drone Attack Hits Ed Damazin, Sudan’s Blue Nile Capital
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
RSF and SPLM-N conducted drone attack on Ed Damazin, Blue Nile capital. Explosions heard across Ed Damazin; one drone reportedly crashed at a fuel station; no casualties.
6 outlets told this the same way.
Drones hit Ed Damazin
Explosions were heard in several parts of Ed Damazin, the capital of Sudan’s Blue Nile state, on Sunday night after what sources described as a drone attack on the city. Dabanga Radio TV Online said the attack was reportedly carried out using drones by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which controls parts of the state including Kurmuk and Geissan. The report said sources in the city heard explosions in the direction of the military hospital and the airport, and that one drone was also reported to have fallen at a fuel station.
Earlier on Sunday, the Sudanese Armed Forces claimed its air defences had shot down a drone attempting to target army positions in the Balang area, according to the same report. Radio Tamazuj similarly said explosions were heard in several parts of Damazin late on Sunday following a drone attack, with explosions heard toward the military hospital and the airport and a drone reported to have crashed at a fuel station.
Condemnations and denials
The Blue Nile Civil Society Initiative condemned what it described as attacks on civilian sites and facilities in Ed Damazin, including fuel stations, and said the RSF and the SPLM-N were responsible for the attacks. In its statement, the initiative stressed that civilians and essential service facilities must not be targets of war under any circumstances, and it called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors.
The Standard reported that paramilitary drone strikes overnight Monday rocked Al-Damazin, with witnesses telling AFP they "woke up to the sounds of explosions" as the Sudanese army deployed anti-aircraft missiles. The Standard also quoted a third person saying they saw a fire break out "after a drone fell near the airport, causing a big explosion," while the Blue Nile state government said the situation was "under control."
Displacement and strategic stakes
The Standard said the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has since April 2023 killed more than 200,000 people, aid workers estimate, and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises. It added that fighting has displaced nearly 100,000 people across the state this year, almost half of them sheltering in Al-Damazin, and that the RSF offensive could put the army in a bind by forcing it to defend territory on both the Blue Nile front and in the Kordofan region. Infobae reported that the Sudanese army announced on Sunday it regained control of the strategic Kadam hill in the southeastern state of Blue Nile after the RSF seized the border area with Ethiopia, which Khartoum accuses of providing support to rebels.
Infobae said the 4th Infantry Division, based in Damazin, managed to recover full control of the hill and surrounding areas, and urged the population "not to pay attention to rumors" spread by the RSF. It also stated that Khartoum has repeatedly accused Addis Ababa of allowing the movement of combatants from its territory and of drone launches from Ethiopian soil toward government troops positions in Sudan.