At least 15 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after airstrikes hit artisanal gold mining sites near Sudan’s border with Egypt, as miners and Sudanese political actors accused Egyptian forces of carrying out the attack.
The strikes targeted the Jabal al-Uqaydat area northeast of Atbara in River Nile State on Tuesday, one of Sudan’s busiest traditional gold mining zones. Darfur24, citing eyewitnesses and local sources, said unidentified aircraft struck the area, while miners later said the attack was carried out by a drone.
Eyewitness Ahmed Mustafa told Darfur24 that the bombardment hit the Jabal al-Uqaydat mine, causing heavy casualties among miners, with several of the wounded in serious condition. The injured were first transported by truck to Al-Ansari market in Abu Hamad locality before being moved to hospitals in Atbara.
Another miner, Al-Nadhir Ishaq Mohamed, said the area had been under repeated aerial surveillance in the week before the attack. Aircraft had flown over the mining sites and photographed them, he said, before three missiles were fired at the mine.
“The aircraft fired three missiles at the mine, causing dozens of deaths and injuries,” Mohamed told Darfur24.
Sudanese miners quoted by Ultra Sudan accused the Egyptian army of carrying out the strike on Jabal al-Uqaydat, Jabal al-Ahmar and other areas in the northern valley zone, claiming the attack was launched under the pretext that miners had entered areas linked to Egyptian mining companies.
They said earlier incidents in the same border area had involved ground forces, but that Tuesday’s attack marked an escalation into aerial bombardment. One miner also shared footage showing metal fragments he said were from the missile used in the strike, and said a small mosque built by miners had been destroyed.
Mohamed said the Al-Uqaydat mining area hosts around 6,000 artisanal miners from across Sudan, including Darfur, Kordofan, Gedaref and Sennar, as well as miners from Chad.
The attack triggered a mass exodus from Jabal al-Ahmar, Jabal al-Abyad and Al-Uqaydat, with miners fleeing toward Al-Ansari market, around 200 kilometres from the targeted area.
A video verified by Darfur24 and posted by one miner showed an urgent appeal for assistance to evacuate the wounded and provide transport, food and drinking water to those affected.
The Sudanese People’s Party condemned what it described as Egyptian air and ground attacks on mining areas inside Sudanese territory, saying the victims were unarmed Sudanese miners. The party criticised the silence of Sudanese authorities and called for medical teams to be sent to the area, the Egyptian ambassador to be summoned, and compensation to be demanded for victims’ families.
Darfur24 said it could not independently verify the final death toll at the time of publication, and no official party had claimed responsibility for the strike.
Mining areas along the Sudanese-Egyptian border have witnessed repeated security incidents in recent years. In March, at least nine artisanal miners were killed and others wounded during clashes involving armed men and Egyptian border guards in the Wadi al-Ansari area.
