Sudanese army downs drone in North Kordofan as RSF steps up abuses, sources say

September 24, 2026 (BARA, Sudan) – The Sudanese military shot down a long-range drone near the North Kordofan town of Bara on Thursday, as the rival Rapid Support Forces intensified arrests and attacks that emptied several towns, local sources said.

Fighting between the army and the paramilitary RSF has escalated sharply across North Kordofan as government troops advance westward toward the Darfur border.

Both sides are deploying drones heavily across central Sudan. RSF drones have targeted army supply lines to blunt the advance toward Darfur, while military strikes have hit RSF staging grounds and troop convoys, residents and military officials said.

An army spokesperson said air defences intercepted an FH-95 drone northeast of Al-Kawkiti in North Kordofan on Thursday morning.

It was the second long-range drone downed by military air defences over the greater Kordofan region in less than a week, following several similar intercepts in recent weeks.

In northwestern parts of the state, RSF fighters arriving in convoy from West Kordofan and Darfur forced thousands of civilians to flee Hamrat al-Sheikh, Al-Mazroub, and Umm Badr, local sources told Sudan Tribune.

Displaced residents fled toward Al-Dabbah in Northern State and across the desert to Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city, following indiscriminate fire and dozens of arrests of civilians accused of spying for the army.

Further west, RSF personnel shut down Starlink satellite internet hubs in Fuja and raided the village of Wad Abu Saq near Al-Nuhud, cutting local communications and detaining at least seven residents for ransom, local activists said.

Aid workers warn of worsening hunger across West Kordofan localities including Al-Nuhud, Al-Khuwei, Ghebeish, and Wad Banda, where food supplies have collapsed and prices have surged due to RSF blockades on transit corridors.