Sudan army drones hit mourners and fuel market killing more than 300 people, sources say

Sudan army drones hit mourners and fuel market killing more than 300 people, sources say

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Sudan's army has been accused of launching several drone strikes that have reportedly killed more than 300 people, including dozens travelling to a funeral. The death toll from strikes in two areas of West Kordofan state on Sunday evening was 150, sources told the Sudan War Observatory.

In Abyei, a disputed border area between Sudan and South Sudan, 153 people were killed when drones hit a market on Monday, the region's information minister said. A military source told the BBC the army had carried out the Abyei attack, saying the market was a fuel supply site for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The attack has raised tensions between South Sudan and Sudan, which jointly administer Abyei, as they both claim ownership to the oil-rich region in a dispute that has remained unresolved since South Sudan ceded in 2011. South Sudan has summoned Sudan's ambassador to lodge a formal protest.

Despite a partial arms embargo on Sudan, foreign countries have been supplying both the army and the RSF with drones, which are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice in the conflict. The war has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced more than 14 million from their homes.

The rising use of armed drones came as 20 million people faced acute hunger, with a rising risk of famine in parts of the western region of Darfur and Greater Kordofan. Greater Kordofan comprises three states and is a vital axis linking Darfur, controlled by the RSF, to the capital, Khartoum, now in army hands.

The wave of drone attacks started on Sunday evening and, according to the Sudan War Observatory, it is likely they were launched from the army-held city of Kadugli in South Kordofan state.