Suicide Drone Strikes a Kindergarten, Killing 45 Sudanese Children

TEHRAN (Defapress) - The attacks by the so-called Rapid Support Forces on the town of Kaloji in Sudan killed 116 people, including 46 children. The Sudanese Doctors Network said the suicide drone attacks targeted a kindergarten and several civilian facilities.

According to a local official, the Rapid Support Forces attacked a kindergarten and other locations in the Kaloji area of ​​South Kordofan state, killing at least 116 people. The Kaloji district chief also told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the victims of the attack included 46 children who were studying at the kindergarten.

Two military sources in the Sudanese army told Al Jazeera that rebels attacked a kindergarten on Thursday last week, targeting civilians who had gathered to offer aid amid the massacre. The city's hospital and a government building were also bombed, the sources said. The communications blackout in the area has made it difficult to report casualties, but there are fears the death toll could rise.

"Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children's rights. Children should never pay the price of conflict. I call on all parties to immediately stop these attacks and allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access to those in need," Sheldon Yett, UNICEF's representative in Sudan, said in a statement on Friday.

The Sudanese Doctors Network was the first to report on Thursday that at least nine people, including four children and two women, were killed in drone strikes on the town of Kaloji. The group said the attack was "a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."

The Sudanese Doctors Network said in a follow-up statement on Friday that aid workers reporting to the scene were also targeted in a “second surprise attack.” Al Jazeera’s Heba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said the death toll was likely to rise after initial reports due to difficulties in reaching the wounded with medical assistance.

It is the latest example of alleged crimes by the Rapid Support Forces against civilians in the brutal civil war, now in its third year, pitting Sudanese army forces against rebels.

Kordofan has been the scene of heavy fighting between the army and rebels since the fall of El Fasher, the last major city in the Darfur region of western Sudan, last month. The war, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands, displaced more than 9 million, and left an estimated 30 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

On Thursday, the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, warned that Sudan’s Kordofan region could face a wave of atrocities similar to the mass killings recorded in the town of El Fasher, which fell to the Rapid Support Forces last month.

Since rebels seized the town of Bara in North Kordofan state in late October, the UN has documented at least 269 civilian deaths from airstrikes, artillery fire, and extrajudicial killings. Meanwhile, a communications blackout across the region means the true toll is likely much higher, with reports of reprisal attacks, arbitrary detentions, sexual violence, and forced recruitment of children.

Meanwhile, the rebels, backed by the United Arab Emirates and UK, seized control of the town of Babanusa in West Kordofan earlier this week and released images of their fighters moving around a military base there. The army has denied the city’s fall.

It is worth noting that before the fall of Fasher in November, the United Nations issued urgent warnings about possible atrocities. But surprisingly, these warnings were largely ignored. After the city was taken, widespread massacres took place, and bodies were visible on satellite images.

The attack on the kindergarten and the massacre of children is one of the most flagrant war crimes in Sudan in recent months. Targeting a school at a time when the war is at its peak shows a complete disregard for the lives of innocent people.