Radio Tamazuj reported that Abyei Information Minister Yohana Akol Ngor said drone strikes at a market killed 73 people on Oct. 19, as separate attacks in Sudan killed civilians and disrupted flights in Khartoum.
Ngor said 19 people were wounded at Amiet Common Market. The figures he gave were provisional.
Separately, the United Nations said at least 19 people, including 10 children, were reported killed over the weekend in West Darfur, South Darfur and North Kordofan. That tally covered those three states, not the attack in Abyei.
In West Kordofan, a Sunday attack near a market left at least 80 people dead, based on accounts from a witness and a medical source cited by AFP.
The U.N. said drone strikes near Khartoum International Airport on Oct. 19 led to flight cancellations. An earlier account of a house strike near the airport cited an AFP medical source who reported that three children and a man were killed.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, said the attacks disrupted essential services. “We condemn all of these attacks unequivocally,” he said.
A drone strike on a Blue Nile State health center killed a Sudanese Red Crescent volunteer last week, Dujarric said. The volunteer was giving first aid in Um Darfa. The U.N. said 25 of the group's volunteers have reportedly been killed on duty since the war began in April 2023.
The Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have fought since then. U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said on Oct. 16 that the sides were not moving closer to dialogue. She said both appeared to expect battlefield gains and continued outside support, and urged them to engage seriously in a political process.
The World Food Programme has said 20 million people in Sudan face acute hunger. Dujarric said the U.N. humanitarian response plan was just over 43% funded.
DiCarlo said the Sudan Consultative Group was due to meet in Geneva during the week of Oct. 19.
