Drone attack kills two, injures four in North Darfur’s Al-Maliha
March 9, 2025 (EL FASHER, AL-MALIHA) – Drone strikes launched by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted the Al-Maliha area in North Darfur state on Sunday, killing two civilians and injuring four others.
Al-Maliha, located approximately 210 kilometres north of El Fasher and situated on Sudan’s border with Libya, is under the control of the Joint Force of armed groups allied to the Sudanese army.
In recent weeks, the town has seen the arrival of significant military reinforcements from the army, intending to advance towards El Fasher city.
The RSF had previously attacked the area in an attempt to gain control, but without success.
The Director-General of the Ministry of Health in North Darfur, Ibrahim Khatir, told Sudan Tribune: “At least two people were killed and four others were injured in a drone bombardment launched by the Rapid Support Forces towards the town of Al-Maliha.”
Military sources told Sudan Tribune that a squadron of drones targeted several locations in the area, including military sites.
They indicated that anti-aircraft defences intercepted some of the drones, while others successfully struck military sites belonging to the Joint Force without causing casualties.
The same sources noted that the bombing caused loud explosions and fires in some homes and a school sheltering displaced people who had fled to the town from the capital of North Darfur.
In El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, the army and the Joint Force continued to advance towards areas previously held by the RSF in the city’s southern and south-eastern neighbourhoods.
The army and its allies regained control of the neighbourhoods of “Al-Firdaws, Al-Hijra, Al-Jawama’a, Al-Wahda, Al-Salam, and Al-Wahda” after expelling the RSF from these positions, which they had controlled in recent months.
Platforms affiliated with the army broadcast video clips showing these neighbourhoods empty of civilians, and the videos also showed the extent of destruction and ruin that affected homes due to the indiscriminate artillery shelling carried out by the RSF.
Since last May, El Fasher, the historical capital of the Darfur region, has witnessed violent confrontations between the army and its allies from the armed movements against the RSF. The RSF seeks to control the city as the last remaining army stronghold in the Darfur region.
The fighting in the capital of North Darfur has resulted in the deaths of large numbers of civilians and the displacement of more than 500,000 people who fled to Tawila, Jebel Marra, and areas in northern Sudan. The prolonged fighting and siege have also caused a significant shortage of food and medicine.