Strike on Sudan hospital kills at least 64 and wounds 89 more, WHO reports | Sudan

An attack on a health facility in Sudan killed 64 people and injured 89 more, the World Health Organization reported on Saturday.

The UN’s humanitarian office in Sudan had previously said it was “horrified by yesterday’s attack on a hospital in East Darfur, which reportedly killed dozens of people, including children, and injured many more.”

Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers, which has documented the atrocities in the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, said it was an army drone strike that hit the Al-Daein teaching hospital.

The RSF dominates the vast western Darfur region, while the army controls eastern, central and northern Sudan.

The WHO’s surveillance system for attacks marked Friday’s incident as “confirmed” but did not give an exact location.

The attack involved “heavy weapons violence” and affected a second medical facility, medical staff, patients, supplies and a warehouse, records show.

Although WHO counts and verifies attacks on healthcare, it does not make accusations because it is not an investigative agency.

El-Daein, the RSF-controlled state capital of East Darfur, is regularly attacked by the military, which is trying to drive paramilitary forces towards their strongholds in Darfur and away from Sudan’s central corridor.

In the last attack on the city’s market at the beginning of this month, oil barrels that burned for hours were set on fire.

Almost daily drone strikes have now become a symbol of Sudan’s brutal war and have left dozens dead, mostly in the southern Kordofan region.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said this month he was “appalled” after more than 200 civilians were reported killed in drone strikes over an eight-day period.

“Parties to the conflict in Sudan continue to use increasingly powerful drones to deploy explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas,” he said.

Hospitals have been a regular target throughout the war, despite repeated UN condemnations.

As of December, more than 1,800 people, including 173 health workers, had been killed in attacks on health facilities since the start of the war, according to the UN.

A total of 12 attacks on healthcare were recorded in Sudan this year, causing 178 deaths and 237 injuries.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people across the country and displaced more than 11 million people from their homes.

This has fueled what the UN has described as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis, with more than 33 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.