Drone Strike on Nyala Market Kills 21 in Sudan’s Darfur Region

A Nyala market drone strike killed at least 21 people and wounded more than 40 others in Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur state, medics and witnesses told the AFP news agency on Tuesday, 27 October 2026. The strike hit a market in the north of the city on Monday evening, at around 8 p.m. local time, according to residents.

FAKTA

• What happened: A drone struck a crowded market in northern Nyala on Monday evening, 26 October 2026.
• Casualties: At least 21 people killed and more than 40 others injured, according to a medic at Nyala Hospital speaking to AFP.
• Where: Nyala, capital of South Darfur state and the de facto capital of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ administration in Darfur.
• Responsibility: No group had publicly claimed responsibility for the strike as of Tuesday.
• Wider fighting: The strike came amid an exchange of drone attacks across Sudan, including a strike on a power station serving Khartoum on Tuesday.

What the Nyala Market Drone Strike Hit

Residents told AFP that the drone hit stalls packed with shoppers in a market in the northern part of Nyala. A medic at Nyala Hospital said: “Twenty-one people were killed in last night’s bombing, and more than 40 others injured.” The medic could not say how many of those killed or injured were fighters.

One resident said the market was frequented by young men, including members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Nyala has become the political centre of the RSF since the group set up its own administration to challenge the military-backed government, which is internationally recognised and operates from Khartoum. The Sudanese military, which has been at war with the RSF since April 2023, regularly carries out strikes on Nyala.

Power Strikes Add to Tuesday’s Toll

On Tuesday, a source at Sudan’s national electricity company told AFP that RSF drones struck the Al-Markhiyat transformer station, disrupting the power supply across large parts of Khartoum and Al-Jazira states. The strike followed coordinated drone attacks a day earlier on power stations that left millions of people without electricity in Al-Jazira, White Nile, Sennar and Gedaref states.

The United Nations has warned that attacks on power infrastructure threaten health services and other essential services for millions of people. According to a UN tally, drone strikes killed more than 300 people in Sudan in the first three weeks of October alone. On Monday, the United States and 30 other countries warned that urgent action was needed to prevent famine from spreading further across Sudan.

A War Fought Increasingly by Drone

The Nyala strike is the latest in a series of deadly attacks on markets and civilian locations in Sudan in recent weeks. Earlier in October, medical sources said a strike on a livestock market in Nyala killed 30 people and wounded 47. Aid workers estimate that more than 200,000 people have been killed since Sudan’s war began in April 2023, and millions have been displaced in what has become the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.

Humanitarian workers say insecurity in Nyala is hampering rescue efforts, while aid organisations have renewed calls for safe access to reach the wounded and resupply overwhelmed local clinics. For more world coverage, see Watan News world news.