Sudanese Army Drone Attack in Nyala Kills 102 Civilians and Injures 113 Others
A total of 102 civilians were killed and another 113 injured in an attack by a Sudanese army drone, according to human rights and humanitarian organizations. The attack targeted the crowded Tinkonjon Market in the Dumaya neighborhood, west of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State.
The Emergency Lawyers group said the drone struck the market on Monday evening, leaving dozens dead and injured, according to preliminary figures, including women and children.
The group described the attack as a “massacre” that turned a civilian market, where residents go to secure their daily necessities and livelihoods, into a scene of mass killing and injuries. It held the Sudanese Armed Forces responsible and called for an independent, transparent investigation and accountability for those responsible.
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) provided medical documentation of the scale of the disaster, confirming that the Sudanese Armed Forces carried out the strike on a crowded market west of Nyala before striking another residential area in the city.
The organization said Nyala Teaching Hospital, which it supports, received 36 bodies, including 21 belonging to people wearing civilian clothing, while the emergency department treated more than 150 injured people, including women and children.
Organization staff said the wounded arrived on donkey-drawn carts, suffering from shrapnel wounds, severe burns, and facial injuries. The organization stressed that markets, homes, and civilian infrastructure do not constitute legitimate military targets.
The Sudanese army command has yet to issue a statement explaining the nature of the target struck in the attack or the measures taken to prevent civilian casualties.
The Tinkonjon Market massacre was not the first attack on a civilian market in Nyala in October. An airstrike hit the city’s livestock market on October 16 while civilians were present.
Médecins Sans Frontières confirmed that at least four people, including a child, were killed in the bombardment and others were injured. Other medical and local sources put the toll at approximately 30 dead and 47 injured. The army acknowledged conducting airstrikes on Nyala on the same day but made no mention of civilian casualties at the market.
The targeting of two markets within two weeks has raised growing concerns about the pattern of the army’s air operations, amid repeated strikes on markets, residential neighborhoods, displacement sites, mining areas, and other civilian objects across Darfur and Kordofan.
Under international humanitarian law, the presence of combatants or military objectives near a market does not remove the legal protection afforded to civilians, nor does it relieve attacking forces of their obligation to verify the nature of a target, distinguish between civilians and combatants, and assess anticipated civilian harm. An attack must also be canceled if the expected civilian harm would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.
The high death toll, combined with the timing of the attack and the nature of the targeted location, raises questions about the choice of target, the munitions used, and compliance with the principles of distinction and proportionality, as well as the obligation to take necessary precautions to protect civilians.
The attacks have also strengthened calls for the Sudanese army’s drone operations to be subjected to an independent international investigation, for digital and medical evidence to be preserved, and for those who carried out the attacks—as well as those responsible for selecting targets and ordering the strikes—to be identified.
The Tinkonjon Market massacre is part of a series of deadly attacks on civilian sites, preceded by a similar strike on the livestock market in the same city. As markets on which residents depend for food and livelihoods continue to be targeted, calls are growing for the Sudanese Armed Forces leadership to be held accountable through an independent investigation, rather than met with silence or general assertions that military sites were targeted.
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Author: Counselor Faisal Al-Mutairi.
Publication Date: October 28, 2026.
Updated: October 2026.
