Developing story: the death toll and responsibility for the strike are unconfirmed.

A drone strike on a market in the disputed Abyei region, on the border between Sudan and South Sudan, has killed at least 153 people, according to Yohana Akol Ngor, the area's caretaker information minister. He said the toll had risen from 73 and could climb further as bodies are recovered.

Ngor blamed Sudan's army but gave no evidence, and the claim has not been independently verified. The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had not responded to requests for comment when the strike was reported.

What officials and aid workers say

The strike hit around midday. Reports differ on whether it happened on Monday 19 or Tuesday 20 October. Ngor said some bodies were burned to ashes. Reports put the number of displaced people at about 8,000, and more than 20 wounded people were treated at Ameth Bek Hospital, where Christian Lindauer, an MSF medical activities manager, said the organisation was providing surgery and wound care.

South Sudan's foreign ministry said drones struck a market north of Abyei town, did not give casualty figures, and summoned Sudan's ambassador in protest. An unnamed eyewitness said they heard five large explosions and saw no RSF or uniformed fighters at the market.

Who is blamed, and what is disputed

Ngor blamed Sudan's army and denied any RSF presence in Abyei. Officials in Sudan's military-led government say the RSF is active in parts of Abyei. Anonymous diplomats, an aid worker and a conflict expert told a news agency the strike hit a fuel depot the RSF had used to supply its forces. None of these accounts has been independently verified. A video of the scene was verified, but the identity of the attacker was not.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said the UN strongly condemned drone attacks in Abyei and elsewhere in Sudan.

A week of drone strikes in Sudan

Dujarric also condemned the reported killing of dozens of civilians at a market in Al Dibab, West Kordofan, on Sunday 18 October. Other reported strikes hit a residential area of Khartoum, where a father and three children aged two to six were reportedly killed, a home in Nyala, and the main power station at Tendalti in White Nile State.

Sudan's army and the RSF have been at war since April 2023. Abyei is jointly administered and claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, and borders Sudan's Kordofan region, a major fighting zone. The UN's Abyei peacekeeping force warned in May that RSF presence had increased insecurity there.

What we do not yet know

  • The final death toll, which comes from a caretaker official and was still rising as bodies were recovered.
  • Who carried out the strike, and whether a fuel depot used by the RSF was the target.
  • The exact date of the strike, given differing reports.
  • Whether aid agencies can reach the wounded and the displaced.

Quotes in this article come from published coverage, not from the original statements.