The Sudan Founding Alliance (TASIS) has denied responsibility for the deadly drone strike in Abu Shandi in Sudan’s Blue Nile region, alleging instead that an Egyptian military drone launched from an army-held area carried out the attack.
The death toll from Friday’s strike near a displacement site in Abu Shandi, Wad al-Mahi locality, has risen to 41, according to Emergency Lawyers. The group blamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a leading member of the TASIS alliance, and said eight children and numerous women were among those killed.
TASIS rejected the accusation in a statement issued by its spokesman Ahmed Tugud Lisan, describing reports blaming its forces as an attempt to discredit the alliance following recent military advances in Blue Nile.
The alliance alleged that the drone which struck civilians in Abu Shandi belonged to Egypt and had been launched from the police headquarters in Wad al-Mahi by Egyptian technicians.
TASIS further alleged that a local figure identified as Mek Zaidan, whom it accused of working with the army-aligned Port Sudan authorities, travelled toward the traditional gold-mining area as the drone approached and withdrew shortly before the strike.
The alliance claimed his movements demonstrated prior knowledge of the attack.
TASIS said the accusations against its forces were intended to turn local communities against the alliance and encourage recruitment into Sudan’s military and allied Popular Resistance formations.
The United Nations has condemned the attack but has not publicly attributed responsibility.
UN officials initially reported that around 40 civilians had been killed, most of them women and children, after what the organisation described as a suspected drone strike near a displacement site close to the Sudan-Ethiopia border.
The UN called for those responsible to be held accountable under international humanitarian law.
The attack occurred amid intensified fighting in Blue Nile between Sudan’s military and the TASIS-aligned forces, including the RSF and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North.
Abu Shandi lies in Wad al-Mahi, an increasingly contested area near the Ethiopian border where thousands of civilians have been displaced by the recent fighting.
