At least 26 civilians killed in SPLM-N attacks in Sudan’s South Kordofan

At least 26 people were killed and dozens injured in two separate attacks in Sudan’s South Kordofan State this week, according to the Sudan Doctors Network and local medical sources.

On Thursday (September 3), forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), an ally of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), attacked the areas of Debi and Luweiri (also reported as Luwairi/Lwere) near Kauda. The assault killed more than 21 people from the Otoro tribe, including women and children, and left others wounded. A medical source at a rural hospital in Debi said more than 20 bodies and 11 injured people arrived at the facility, with civilians fleeing amid fears of a worsening humanitarian crisis.

In a separate incident early Friday (September 4), SPLM-N artillery shelling struck residential neighborhoods in the city of Dilling, killing 5 people (including a child) and injuring several others.

The Sudan Doctors Network condemned the attacks as a clear violation of a ceasefire agreement reached in late August and accused SPLM-N of deliberately targeting civilians on an ethnic basis. The violence forms part of ongoing clashes between SPLM-N (led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu) and the Otoro community in the Nuba Mountains over land and territorial disputes.

SPLM-N has not commented on the allegations. The incidents add to the heavy civilian toll in South Kordofan amid Sudan’s wider civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF-led coalition that began in April 2023.