Drone Strike on Abyei Market Kills 153, South Sudan Protests
The toll from a drone strike on a fuel depot at a market in the disputed Abyei region has been revised up from 73 to at least 153, and officials say it is still rising. South Sudan has summoned Sudan’s ambassador in protest. A military source said the Sudanese army carried out the attack.
The strike hit Amiet Market, about ten kilometres from Abyei town, at around half past eleven on Monday morning, and the fire was still burning the following day. Yohanna Akol Ngor, the Abyei administration’s caretaker information minister, called it “a horrible and shocking situation” and said some bodies had been burned to ashes. Christian Lindauer, who manages an operation for Doctors Without Borders at a nearby hospital, reported more than 20 patients including several critical cases and burns. Satellite imagery has independently confirmed extensive burnt buildings at the market. Against that, a senior Sudanese officer said anonymously that those killed “were RSF members and fuel smugglers” and that the military does not target civilians; the Rapid Support Forces have not commented, and both are interested parties. The United Nations condemned the drone strikes without attributing blame. Abyei is oil-rich, claimed by both Sudans, and has hosted more than 2,800 United Nations peacekeepers since 2011 — one trader noted it is “a weapons-free zone under United Nations protection, yet it was targeted by drones”. Twenty million Sudanese now face acute hunger.