Death Toll from Abu Shandi Massacre in Blue Nile Region Rises to 41 Civilians
A human rights body said the death toll from the massacre in the Abu Shandi area of Wad Al-Mahi Locality, Blue Nile Region, had risen to 41 civilians following a drone attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. In a press statement, the body condemned the attack on civilians, describing it as “a dangerous turning point.”
Meanwhile, Amjad Farid, political adviser to the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), said in a post on X that media reports indicated that 26 women and four children had been buried following RSF militia airstrikes on a gathering of internally displaced persons in Abu Shandi, Wad Al-Mahi Locality, Blue Nile Region, on Friday. Farid said the drones that carried out the attack had taken off from militia bases in Ethiopia.
The airstrikes killed dozens of people in Abu Shandi, prompting the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to condemn the attack, call for the protection of civilians and extend its condolences to the victims’ families.
The attack was the largest of its kind this month, striking dozens of civilians amid increased drone activity in Wad Al-Mahi Locality, in the eastern part of the Blue Nile Region. Volunteers circulated photographs of the victims near a boat landing on the Nile.
Fighting took place over the past two days in several towns in Wad Al-Mahi Locality between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF militia. The Fourth Infantry Division stressed that it would not allow Dagalo’s forces to advance into the area.
The Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA) had announced the suspension of its medical operations in Wad Al-Mahi Locality and the withdrawal of its medical team following increased drone activity after the attack on Abu Shandi on Friday, October 9.
In a related development, Denise Brown, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, condemned on Saturday the killing of 31 civilians, including women and children, in a drone attack in the Blue Nile Region in southeastern Sudan.
In a statement, Brown said she was horrified by reports of a drone strike near a displacement site in Wad Al-Mahi, Blue Nile Region.
She said preliminary information indicated that at least 31 civilians had been killed, most of them women and children, while dozens more had been injured, some of them seriously. “Condemning these senseless killings is essential, but there must also be accountability for this flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law,” Brown added.