CAIRO (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization said Monday the death toll from drone strikes on a kindergarten and other targets in Sudan's Kordofan state last week was 114, including 63 children.
The WHO said there were three separate drone strikes on Kagoli last Thursday. The first strike hit a kindergarten, and subsequent strikes targeted health workers transporting survivors and the hospital. The death toll was unclear at the time, partly due to communications disruptions.
Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO director, said at X that the organization “deplores these senseless attacks on civilians and health facilities and reiterates our calls for an end to the violence and increased access to humanitarian assistance, including health care.”
The Sudanese Doctors Network and Emergency Advocates, groups that monitor violence against civilians in Sudan, blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, also known as RSF, for the strikes.
In a statement Saturday, Emergency Lawyers called the attack “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children, and vital civilian infrastructure.”
The strikes come amid a two-year war between the RSF and the Sudanese military. More than 40,000 people have died so far and 12 million have been displaced, according to the World Health Organization. However, aid groups warn the true death toll is likely much higher.
The battle is now centered in the oil-rich Kordofan region after the RSF captured the last military stronghold of El Fasher in Darfur in western Sudan.
The capture of El Fasher by the RSF was accompanied by violence. There were reports of executions of civilians, rape, sexual assault and other atrocities. More than 100,000 people have fled since the takeover, according to the UN migration agency.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned last week that Kordofan could face more atrocities similar to those in El Fasher.
The humanitarian situation in the Kordofan region is deteriorating as famine spreads after more than two years of devastating war. Last month, a famine was declared in the South Kordofan capital Kadugli. Dilling, also located in Southern Kordofan, is reported to have experienced the same famine conditions as Kadugli.
