At Least 72 Gold Miners Killed in Airstrike Near Egypt-Sudan Border, Rights Group Says

At least 72 civilian gold prospectors were killed in airstrikes on artisanal mining sites near the Egypt-Sudan border on Saturday, the Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers said on Sunday. The Egypt-Sudan border airstrike targeted miners’ camps in a remote border region, and the death toll is expected to rise, according to a second group, the Sudan Doctors Network.

FAKTA: Egypt-Sudan border airstrike

• Death toll: at least 72 dead, according to Emergency Lawyers; the group calls the figure preliminary and says verification is ongoing.
• Second count: the Sudan Doctors Network reported at least 13 dead and 28 injured, warning the number would rise as some victims had serious injuries and limited access to healthcare.
• When and where: Saturday morning, October 10, around 06:00 local time, at the Jabal al-Uqaydat mining area in Sudan’s River Nile state, near the Egypt-Sudan border.
• Who is blamed: Emergency Lawyers blamed Egyptian forces; Egypt has not publicly commented. The aircraft involved has not been identified.
• Disputed details: initial reports suggested the attack took place on the Egyptian side of the border, while Emergency Lawyers said it happened in Sudanese territory.

What is known about the Egypt-Sudan border airstrike

Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese organisation based in Khartoum, said jets targeted artisanal miners at the Jabal al-Uqaydat gold mining site on Saturday morning. Eyewitnesses cited by the Paris-based Sudan Tribune said the attack began around 06:00 local time, with aircraft firing more than five missiles directly at the miners’ camps, destroying them and the excavation pits with people still inside.

A survivor quoted by Agence France-Presse said a jet struck five times. Another survivor, Abdel-Aziz Yousef, told the Associated Press that the site targeted was an artisanal gold mine in a mountainous area, and that many people were killed or wounded while others fled fearing further strikes.

The Sudan Doctors Network said some of the wounded had serious injuries and faced difficulties reaching medical facilities in the remote, mountainous border region. The group also said the miners had been repeatedly warned by Egyptian authorities to evacuate the area.

Blame disputed, no government comment

Emergency Lawyers accused the Egyptian air force of carrying out the attack, saying it represented not only a violation of Sudan’s sovereign territory but also demonstrated the government’s lack of control over the region. “The deliberate targeting of unarmed civilians violates international humanitarian law and the right to life,” the group said in a statement on Sunday. “These acts may constitute war crimes.”

Egypt has not publicly confirmed or denied responsibility, and the de facto Sudanese authorities have not commented. Initial reports had suggested the strike took place on the Egyptian side of the border, while Emergency Lawyers placed it in Sudanese territory — a discrepancy that has not been resolved. In June, Egyptian security forces arrested hundreds of people on the border with Sudan, accusing them of illegal gold mining and smuggling, after earlier reports of equipment being burned and shots fired to disperse mine workers.

Gold at the centre of Sudan’s war

Gold has played a central part in the war in Sudan, with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces smuggling thousands of tons of the precious metal out of the Darfur and Kordofan regions to fund themselves, according to reporting on the conflict. A 2024 United Nations report found that more than 50 percent of the gold mined in Sudan is smuggled out of the country.

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