The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has condemned a drone attack on a kindergarten and hospital in Sudan’s South Kordofan region, describing the strike, which killed 114 people, as “senseless”.
The attack hit the town of Kalogi on Thursday, with the UN saying 63 children were among the dead. Another 35 people were injured.
Attack Hits Kalogi as Fighting Escalates in Kordofan
Kalogi, an army-held town between Khartoum and Darfur, has become one of the frontlines in Sudan’s civil war, which erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Local official Essam al-Din al-Sayed told AFP that drones struck “first a kindergarten, then a hospital and a third time as people tried to rescue the children”.
The Sudan Doctors’ Network and the army both accused the RSF of carrying out the attack. The RSF has not commented. The group has previously denied targeting civilians, despite being accused by the WHO chief in October of killing hundreds at the main hospital in El-Fasher, Darfur.
WHO Warns of Attacks on Health Workers
Mr Tedros said survivors from Kalogi were transferred to Abu Jebaiha Hospital in South Kordofan, where health workers are urgently calling for blood donations and medical supplies.
He also raised alarm over reports that paramedics came under fire while trying to evacuate injured children from the kindergarten.
“WHO deplores these senseless attacks on civilians and health facilities,” he said, urging immediate access for humanitarian aid and calling once more for a ceasefire.
“Sudanese have suffered far too much. Ceasefire now,” he posted on X.
RSF Claims Control of Sudan’s Largest Oil Field
In a separate development, the RSF said it had taken control of the Heglig oil field near the South Sudan border.
An army source told Reuters that troops had withdrawn to avoid damage to the facilities, which process much of South Sudan’s oil exports, a key source of revenue for both Sudan and South Sudan.
Another source working at the site said army personnel and oil workers had moved into South Sudan following the RSF’s advance.
The civil war has intensified across the Kordofan region, home to nearly eight million people, as the army pushes westward toward Darfur, much of which is controlled by the RSF.