The TASIS-backed Government of Peace and Unity has revised the reported death toll from a drone strike on a crowded market in Nyala, South Darfur, to 188 people killed and 356 wounded, up sharply from an earlier figure of 102 dead and 113 injured.
The administration’s health ministry released the higher figures on Tuesday afternoon, according to Radio Dabanga, citing reports gathered from medical facilities and teams responding to the October 26 attack. The ministry said the toll remained subject to change as more information emerged.
Neither the revised figures nor the overall number of civilian deaths have been independently verified.
The earlier tally of 102 killed and 113 wounded had been reported by TASIS health officials and the Emergency Lawyers rights group, which accused Sudan’s military of striking the market and called for an independent investigation.
MSF documents casualties at Nyala hospital
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) separately reported that Nyala Teaching Hospital, which it supports, had received 36 bodies and treated more than 150 wounded patients after the bombardment.
Of the bodies received, 21 were wearing civilian clothing, the medical charity said. Staff treated patients with shrapnel injuries and serious burns as casualties arrived by tuk-tuk and donkey cart.
MSF’s figures cover people received at one hospital and do not constitute a comprehensive count of the dead or wounded. They therefore cannot be used to confirm or disprove the larger toll announced by the TASIS administration.
According to MSF, a drone struck a busy market in western Nyala at around 8 p.m. on Monday. A second strike hit a residential neighbourhood. The organisation attributed the attacks to Sudan’s military and condemned the danger to civilians and essential services.
Calls for investigation
The market was identified in local reports as Tangooj night market in the Doumaya area. Witnesses described casualties among traders and residents, while Sudan Tribune reported that armed personnel were also present at the market and that military sites elsewhere in Nyala had been hit during the same aerial operation.
The accounts do not independently establish the status of everyone killed or whether the market was deliberately targeted. TASIS and Emergency Lawyers have demanded an independent investigation into the bombing.
Nyala is the administrative centre of the Sudan Founding Alliance (TASIS), which includes the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied political and armed groups. Sudan’s military has intensified air operations against RSF positions in the city during October.
The latest bombing followed a separate October 16 drone strike on Nyala’s livestock market, where MSF documented at least four deaths. The organisation has urged all parties to protect markets, homes and other civilian infrastructure as the aerial war expands.
