PORT SUDAN, Sudan: A drone attack killed 12 people and injured 30 on Tuesday in Atbara in northeast Sudan, a city that had until now been spared the country’s brutal warfare, a medic and witnesses told AFP.
Much of Sudan has been gripped for nearly a year by a bloody war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“A fire broke out after a drone attack during an iftar,” a witness said over the phone, referring to the evening fast-breaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The meal, “organized by and at the base of the Islamist Baraa militia,” which fights alongside the Sudanese army, “gathered both civilians and fighters,” another resident told AFP.
Residents were gripped by a “wave of panic due to the shock of the explosion” in Atbara, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) northeast of Khartoum, the same source said.
The bodies of “12 killed and 30 injured” arrived at a hospital in Atbara, a medical source said, updating an earlier toll without specifying whether they were fighters or civilians.
The war, which broke out on April 15, has killed thousands and displaced more than 8.5 million people internally and across borders, according to the United Nations.
The fighting had spared Atbara, where army troops have been stationed to protect the city strategically located on the road to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, where the government loyal to the army has taken refuge.
No group immediately claimed the attack. The RSF owns drones but is located some 250 kilometers away from Atbara, on the roads leading out of the capital Khartoum.
The RSF originated from the feared Janjaweed militia that had been unleashed in the early 2000s by former dictator Omar Al-Bashir to quash ethic tribes in Darfur.
The paramilitaries now control much of Darfur, a region the size of France that has been cut off from the rest of the country for months.
The new US envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, said military jets on Monday raided the city of El-Fasher in North Darfur, “where thousands of civilians from across Darfur have already fled.”
Across the country, both the military and the RSF “continue to obstruct humanitarian assistance and the free movement of civilians,” he wrote on X.
Twelve killed in drone attack on key city in Sudan’s northeast
https://arab.news/67dka
Twelve killed in drone attack on key city in Sudan’s northeast
- Much of Sudan has been gripped for nearly a year by a bloody war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces
Trump says ‘hopefully’ no need for military action against Iran
- US president said he is speaking with Iran and left open the possibility of avoiding a military operation
- An Iranian military spokesman warned Tehran’s response to any US action would not be limited
PARIS: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he hoped to avoid military action against Iran, which has threatened to strike American bases and aircraft carriers in response to any attack.
Trump said he is speaking with Iran and left open the possibility of avoiding a military operation after earlier warning time was “running out” for Tehran as the United States sends a large naval fleet to the region.
When asked if he would have talks with Iran, Trump told reporters: “I have had and I am planning on it.”
“We have a group headed out to a place called Iran, and hopefully we won’t have to use it,” the US president added, while speaking to media at the premiere of a documentary about his wife Melania.
As Brussels and Washington dialed up their rhetoric and Iran issued stark threats this week, UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for nuclear negotiations to “avoid a crisis that could have devastating consequences in the region.”
An Iranian military spokesman warned Tehran’s response to any US action would not be limited — as it was in June last year when American planes and missiles briefly joined Israel’s short air war against Iran — but would be a decisive response “delivered instantly.”
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia told state television US aircraft carriers have “serious vulnerabilities” and that numerous American bases in the Gulf region are “within the range of our medium-range missiles.”
“If such a miscalculation is made by the Americans, it will certainly not unfold the way Trump imagines — carrying out a quick operation and then, two hours later, tweeting that the operation is over,” he said.
An official in the Gulf, where states host US military sites, said that fears of a US strike on Iran are “very clear.”
“It would bring the region into chaos, it would hurt the economy not just in the region but in the US and cause oil and gas prices to skyrocket,” the official added.
‘Protests crushed in blood’
Qatar’s leader Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian held a call to discuss “efforts being made to de-escalate tensions and establish stability,” the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
The European Union, meanwhile, piled on the pressure by designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a “terrorist organization” over a deadly crackdown on recent mass protests.
“’Terrorist’ is indeed how you call a regime that crushes its own people’s protests in blood,” said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, welcoming the “overdue” decision.
Though largely symbolic, the EU decision has already drawn a warning from Tehran.
Iran’s military slammed “the illogical, irresponsible and spite-driven action of the European Union,” alleging the bloc was acting out of “obedience” to Tehran’s arch-foes the United States and Israel.
Iranian officials have blamed the recent protest wave on the two countries, claiming their agents spurred “riots” and a “terrorist operation” that hijacked peaceful rallies sparked over economic grievances.
Rights groups have said thousands of people were killed during the protests by security forces, including the IRGC — the ideological arm of Tehran’s military.
In Tehran on Thursday, citizens expressed grim resignation.
“I think the war is inevitable and a change must happen. It can be for worse, or better. I am not sure,” said a 29-year-old waitress, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“I am not in favor of war. I just want something to happen that would result in something better.”
Another 29-year-old woman, an unemployed resident of an upscale neighborhood in northern Tehran, said: “I believe that life has highs and lows and we are now at the lowest point.”
Trump had threatened military action if protesters were killed in the anti-government demonstrations that erupted in late December and peaked on January 8 and 9.
But his more recent statements have turned to Iran’s nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb.
On Wednesday, he said “time is running out” for Tehran to make a deal, warning the US naval strike group that arrived in Middle East waters on Monday was “ready, willing and able” to hit Iran.
Conflicting tolls
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,479 people were killed in the protests, as Internet restrictions imposed on January 8 continue to slow verification.
But rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher, with estimates in the tens of thousands.
Iranian authorities acknowledge that thousands were killed during the protests, giving a toll of more than 3,000 deaths, but say the majority were members of the security forces or bystanders killed by “rioters.”
Billboards and banners have gone up in the capital Tehran to bolster the authorities’ messages. One massive poster appears to show an American aircraft carrier being destroyed.
