Abyei market drone strike kills at least 153, officials say

• Abyei’s caretaker information minister said the count was rising as recovery workers dealt with a fire.
• MSF said more than 20 wounded people, including burn patients and critical cases, reached a nearby hospital.
• Reports of deaths in West Kordofan range from 80 at one site to 150 across two locations.

A drone strike on Amiet Market in the disputed Abyei region killed at least 153 people, its caretaker information minister said on Tuesday, as fire continued to hamper the recovery of bodies. Yohanna Akol Ngor said the toll could rise. A local news outlet separately reported that authorities had put the death toll at 220, a figure not corroborated in the Associated Press and Reuters reports examined. The final toll remains unclear.¹²³

The strike hit a fuel depot near the market, according to the AP and Reuters. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said more than 20 wounded people were taken to Ameth Bek Hospital, where staff treated critical cases and people with burns. South Sudan summoned Sudan’s ambassador to protest.¹²

Abyei and South Sudanese officials blamed Sudan’s military. The AP said it could not independently verify who carried out the attack and that the military had not responded to its request for comment. BBC Verify reported that an unnamed military source told it the army had carried out the strike, claiming the market supplied fuel to the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group fighting Sudan’s army. The source’s account does not independently establish responsibility.¹⁴

Separate drone attacks in West Kordofan on Sunday also reportedly killed civilians, including people travelling to a funeral. The Sudan War Observatory told BBC Verify that strikes in two locations killed 150 people: 145 on a vehicle carrying mourners and five at a mourning tent. The Guardian, citing a witness and a medical source, reported 80 deaths in an attack at Al-Dibab. The reports do not reconcile the difference, and the BBC’s more-than-300 headline adds its West Kordofan figure to the 153 reported in Abyei; it is not a confirmed combined toll.⁴⁵¹

Footnotes

1. https://apnews.com/article/sudan-drone-strike-fuel-depot-abyei-deaths-f36b3c7d15be6b48efdc35eed7219d6d ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. https://www.investing.com/news/world-news/drone-strike-in-disputed-sudansouth-sudan-area-kills-dozens-minister-says-4958797 ↩ ↩²

3. https://www.sudanspost.com/abyei-drone-attack-death-toll-reaches-220/ ↩

4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr3el70jz1nqo ↩ ↩²

5. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/19/drone-attack-market-al-dibab-west-kordofan-sudan ↩