Drone strikes hit gold mines, facilities in Sudan’s Blue Nile

Oct 29 2026, KURMUK, Sudan – Drone strikes targeted gold mining sites, markets, and public service facilities in Sudan’s south-eastern Blue Nile region on Thursday, causing physical damage but no reported casualties, a local official said.

The attacks hit operations across the Al-Kurmuk locality, destroying a gasoline fuel tanker and damaging water extraction basins used to process raw gold ore, locality commissioner Abdelati Mohamed El-Faki told Sudan Tribune.

The strikes follow an intensifying aerial campaign by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces against energy and electricity infrastructure across territory controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces, amid accusations by Sudanese authorities that neighbouring Ethiopia has facilitated drone launches from its soil.

El-Faki said the RSF deployed three drones against mining operations, setting a fuel tanker ablaze, while a single drone struck the Al-Khulafa Al-Rashideen site, damaging water basins. Four additional drones struck mines in the Al-Ratiq area, and another hit a site operated by the Al-Libi firm.

The drone strikes also hit a local market, a school, and a health clinic in the area, El-Faki said.

The RSF was not immediately available for comment.

The incident follows similar drone attacks earlier this week on raw ore processing facilities in South Kordofan, signalling an effort to disrupt Sudan’s gold output.

Gold serves as the military-backed government’s primary source of revenue to finance imports of strategic goods, including wheat and fuel, following severe economic collapse and disruptions across other sectors during the war that erupted in April 2023.

Both the European Union and Britain have previously imposed sanctions on mining and commercial firms linked to both the army and the RSF, accusing them of generating revenue that fuels the ongoing conflict.