Sudan Market Drone Attack Kills at Least 11 as Civilian Toll Mounts in Escalating Air War
Strike on Adikong border market ignites fuel reserves, killing and burning civilians; UN reports over 200 drone-related deaths in just over a week
CAIRO — March 13, 2026 — A drone strike on a crowded market in western Sudan near the border with Chad killed at least 11 people and wounded more than 20 others on Thursday, as the United Nations warned that escalating aerial assaults across the country have claimed over 200 civilian lives in little more than a week .
The attack targeted fuel reserves at the Adikong market in West Darfur, triggering massive explosions that sent flames tearing through the area and burned victims to death, according to the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) . The organisation said it had treated more than 20 wounded at a hospital it supports across the border in Adre, Chad, with seven of the injured being children .
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MSF blamed the strike on the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), describing it as the second deadly drone attack on the same area in less than a month . The Sudanese military has not issued an official statement regarding Thursday’s attack, though two military sources told media outlets that operations in the area were intended to target the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) .
Gado Mahamadou, MSF head of mission in Chad, said the number of injured rose rapidly within a short period. “The hospital we support in Adré has received 23 injured civilians so far, and the number rose from five to 23 cases in less than one hour,” he told Darfur24 . Among the wounded were four women and seven children under the age of fifteen .
Competing Casualty Figures and Conflicting Narratives
Conflicting reports emerged regarding the death toll, with some sources citing four fatalities while others reported higher numbers. The Associated Press, citing MSF, initially reported four dead and 23 wounded . However, Al Jazeera and The New Arab, also citing MSF, reported 11 killed and more than 20 injured . Darfur24, a regional news outlet, maintained the lower figure of four dead .
The discrepancies may reflect the chaotic situation at the border market and the difficulty of accounting for all victims, particularly those burned beyond recognition in the fuel fire. MSF confirmed that at least 11 people were burned to death in the March 12 strike .
Separately, a strike on the Adre border口岸—the vital crossing between Sudan and Chad—also occurred on Thursday, killing 13 people, according to Sudanese media reports . The West Darfur local organisation “Geneina Emergency Response Coordination Committee” said a drone fired four missiles at the Adre crossing, destroying a fuel market and killing 13 fuel traders, including five women . Five others were wounded in that attack .
Sudan’s RSF claimed on social media that this was the third time this year the Sudanese army had attacked the Adre crossing, accusing the military of seeking to obstruct humanitarian aid deliveries to the Darfur region . A Sudanese military source told the Sudan Tribune that the strike targeted “gangs smuggling fuel from Chad to the Rapid Support Forces” .
UN Warns of ‘Appalling’ Civilian Toll
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said on Thursday he was appalled by the scale of intensifying aerial assaults on civilians in the war, warning that his office had received reports of more than 200 people killed by drones across the Kordofan region and White Nile state since March 4 alone .
“It is deeply troubling that despite multiple reminders, warnings and appeals, parties to the conflict continue to use increasingly powerful drones to deploy explosive weapons in populated areas,” Türk said in a statement .
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that increasing drone strikes across Sudan “are exacting a growing toll on civilians,” with many homes, schools, markets and health facilities damaged or destroyed in the attacks .
Pattern of Escalating Drone Warfare
Thursday’s market strike is part of a broader pattern of escalating drone attacks that have transformed the nearly three-year conflict. Drones have become a key weapon used by both sides in the war between the SAF and the RSF that began in April 2023 .
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In West Kordofan, at least 152 civilians were killed in strikes attributed to the SAF, including about 50 when a market and hospital were struck simultaneously in al-Muglad on March 4 . Three days later, attacks on markets in Abu Zabad and Wad Banda left at least 40 more dead . On March 10, a truck carrying civilians was hit in al-Sunut, killing at least 50, among them women and children .
A day before the Adikong strike, drones used by the RSF hit a secondary school and health centre in the White Nile state village of Shukeiri, killing at least 17 people, including female students, teachers and a health worker, according to the Sudanese Doctors Network .
Mukesh Kapila, professor of global health and humanitarian affairs at the University of Manchester, told Al Jazeera the increase in the rate of drone attacks was significant.
“It is really only in the last couple of years that drones have entered the scene in Sudan,” he said, adding that their use now appeared to be “accelerating” into “a preferred weapon of war, particularly on the RSF side” .
The appeal in mounting an attack with a drone, he said, was brutally simple: “It is cheap, it is easily launched from anywhere, and the main effect is that it is a weapon of mass terror” . Kapila pointed to the pattern of targets—hospitals, water points, markets and displacement camps—as evidence that the intent was “to spread terror” with strikes increasingly used to project power well beyond active front lines .
Foreign Involvement and Weapons Supply
The SAF has received Iranian-made drones, with Mohajer-6 combat UAVs documented arriving as recently as 2024, alongside Turkish and Russian military support . The RSF, which has no air force of its own, has been equipped through a network of supply routes reportedly running through Chad and other transit states, with reports pointing to the United Arab Emirates as a key enabler—allegations Abu Dhabi denies .
The war has now produced more than 1,000 documented drone attacks since April 2023, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED) . In the first two months of 2026 alone, ACLED recorded 198 strikes by both sides, at least 52 of which caused civilian casualties, killing 478 people .
Sudan accounted for more than half of all drone attacks recorded across the entire African continent in 2024, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and by March last year, the SAF claimed to have shot down more than 100 drones in just 10 days .
Humanitarian Crisis Deepens
The human cost of nearly three years of war has created what has been called the world’s largest humanitarian emergency. Some 33.7 million people—the largest such population anywhere on earth—now require humanitarian assistance, according to the UN, and more than 12 million have been driven from their homes .
The Adre边境口岸, which was struck separately on Thursday, is one of western Sudan’s most important land crossings . In February, the Chadian government closed all cross-border passages with Sudan to prevent the conflict from spilling over and to ensure national stability . The closure has further complicated humanitarian access to Darfur, where millions remain dependent on aid.
MSF renewed its call on all parties to the conflict to respect their legal and moral obligations to protect civilians, warning against the continued targeting of civilian areas in Sudan’s ongoing war .
Strategic Significance of Border Region
The Adikong market and Adre crossing are located in an area of strategic importance, serving as vital supply routes for both humanitarian goods and military logistics. The RSF controls much of Darfur, and the border region has become a critical conduit for fuel and other supplies .
Sudanese military sources characterised Thursday’s strike on the Adre crossing as targeting smuggling networks providing fuel to RSF-affiliated personnel . Local traders, including Chadian nationals, have been caught in the crossfire as both sides seek to control supply lines.
The conflict, which began on April 15, 2023, when tensions between the SAF and RSF erupted into open fighting in Khartoum, has now spread across much of the country, with Darfur and Kordofan emerging as major centres of violence . More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to UN figures, though aid groups say that is an undercount and the true number could be many times higher .
International Response
The United States, Saudi Arabia, and other international actors have attempted repeatedly to broker ceasefires and peace agreements, but none have taken hold. The UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia all deny providing military support to either side, despite persistent allegations .
As drone warfare intensifies, civilians continue to pay the heaviest price. The Adikong market strike—and the confusion over its exact toll—exemplifies the challenges of documenting atrocities in a conflict zone where access is limited and both sides employ increasingly powerful weapons against populated areas.
MSF reiterated that its teams continue to treat wounded civilians streaming across the border into Chad, with children comprising a significant proportion of casualties . The organisation warned that without a cessation of hostilities and respect for international humanitarian law, the civilian death toll would continue to mount.
Verification Note
Casualty figures from conflicting sources could not be independently verified by WNS
SOURCES / INPUTS
Al Jazeera: Drone attack on market in Sudan kills 11, as air war civilian toll mounts
The New Arab: Drone strike in Sudan kills 11, injures over 20, MSF says
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