Drone strikes hit Omdurman power plants, trigger Khartoum blackouts
May 14, 2025 (KHARTOUM) – Drone strikes hit three power stations in Sudan’s city of Omdurman on Wednesday night, causing widespread electricity outages in large parts of the capital Khartoum, the national electricity company and local authorities said.
Power infrastructure in Omdurman, which lies across the Nile from Khartoum, has been repeatedly damaged by drones in attacks the government blames on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese army since April 2023.
The state-owned Sudanese Electricity Distribution Company said in a brief statement that its Al-Markhiyat power transformer station, the Military College distribution transformer station, and the Al-Mahdia distribution transformer station had been “subjected to drone attacks.”
“This aggression led to power outages in Khartoum state, increasing the suffering of citizens and disrupting services,” the company added.
The Al-Markhiyat station is northwest of Omdurman, the Al-Mahdia station is in the Al-Mahdia neighbourhood, and the Military College station is in the Wad al-Bakhit district.
The electricity company said civil defence forces were working to extinguish fires at the damaged facilities and that a technical assessment would follow to plan repairs.
The Khartoum state government directly accused the RSF of launching the attacks. It said the “systematic targeting” of power infrastructure was part of the RSF’s “strategy… to destroy vital infrastructure, which directly impacts citizens’ lives.”
It added that such attacks “multiply the suffering of citizens already living in difficult humanitarian conditions” due to the conflict.
Damage to power stations frequently disrupts hospitals and water treatment facilities, forcing residents to use potentially contaminated water from shallow wells or directly from the Nile River, aid agencies say. This has contributed to the spread of diseases, including cholera.
The United Nations reports that the conflict has devastated water and energy infrastructure in 13 states. According to the U.N., 70% of water facilities have sustained total or partial damage, depriving approximately 9 million women and children of access to safe drinking water.