RSF drone strike kills 13 civilians in Sudan’s El-Obeid

January 6, 2026 (EL-OBEID) – A drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed at least 13 civilians, including children, in the city of El-Obeid on Tuesday, medical sources and rights groups said.

The strike hit the densely populated Al-Jallabiya residential neighbourhood in the capital of North Kordofan state. The Sudan Doctors Network reported that nine of the victims belonged to a single family.

El-Obeid has faced a surge in drone attacks in recent months, with strikes hitting power stations and government buildings. The city is a strategic hub that the Sudanese army uses as an advanced operations centre for its campaigns in the Kordofan and Darfur regions.

The RSF has recently deployed significant reinforcements to the southern, northern, and northwestern outskirts of the city in an apparent attempt to encircle the garrison town.

“The targeted area is a purely civilian neighbourhood with no military presence,” the Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement, calling the attack a violation of international humanitarian law. The group urged the international community and the United Nations to pressure the RSF leadership to halt strikes on residential areas.

The RSF did not immediately issue a statement regarding the strike.

The conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has increasingly moved into urban centres, with both the army and the RSF facing accusations of indiscriminate shelling and drone strikes that have caused high civilian casualties.