Sudan’s Founding Alliance (TASIS) has accused the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of killing at least 20 civilians and wounding dozens more in a drone strike on El-Nahud, West Kordofan, as fighting intensifies across the region.
The alliance said the attack took place on Monday morning and caused extensive damage to civilian property, including the destruction of a commercial truck.
TASIS spokesperson Ahmed Tugud Lisan condemned the bombardment, accusing forces aligned with the SAF government in Port Sudan of conducting attacks against civilian populations in areas outside its control.
Lisan described the strike as part of what the alliance considers a wider campaign of retaliatory attacks against civilians and economic infrastructure in western Sudan.
The alliance called on the international community and human rights organisations to investigate the incident, document alleged violations and hold those responsible accountable.
The reported death toll could not be independently verified.
Airstrikes intensify across West Kordofan
The allegations come amid an escalation in military operations around El-Nahud and neighbouring El-Khwei, where Sudan’s military and allied armed groups have been attempting to advance against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Local news outlet Darfur24 reported that SAF aircraft carried out at least seven air operations targeting locations in and around El-Nahud on Monday.
Witnesses described explosions and smoke rising from several areas, while military activity brought commercial operations to a standstill.
Sources cited by Darfur24 said drone strikes destroyed five military vehicles in the market area of Foga, within El-Nahud locality, forcing the market to close.
Those reports independently establish that significant aerial operations occurred in the area but do not confirm TASIS’s account of 20 civilian deaths.
Civilians caught in expanding conflict
The latest escalation follows renewed fighting between TASIS-aligned forces and Sudan’s military around Iyal Bakhit, where both sides have reported battlefield successes.
The SAF government and its allied Joint Force have announced territorial advances in West Kordofan, while TASIS maintains that its forces have inflicted substantial losses on the advancing military formations.
Neither side’s competing battlefield claims could be independently verified.
El-Nahud has become an important location in the struggle for control of supply routes linking Kordofan with Darfur, exposing nearby communities to recurring air attacks, displacement and disruption of essential services.
The intensification of aerial operations has also raised concerns over the safety of markets and other civilian facilities in areas affected by the fighting.
TASIS urged international organisations to intervene to protect civilians and investigate attacks on residential areas and commercial infrastructure.
Sudan’s war, which began in April 2023, has displaced millions of people and devastated infrastructure across large parts of the country, leaving communities increasingly vulnerable as fighting spreads into new areas.
