KHARTOUM: A drone attack on a crowded market in central Sudan killed 28 people, a rights group reported Monday, as the army and its paramilitary rivals traded aerial strikes in their battle for territory.
The attack occurred in a paramilitary-controlled area in the far north of Sudan’s Kordofan region, currently the fiercest frontline in the three-year-old war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to the Emergency Lawyers, a group monitoring atrocities in the conflict, several drones hit the Al-Safiya market outside the town of Sodari in North Kordofan on Sunday.
“The attack occurred when the market was bustling with civilians, including women, children and the elderly,” the group said, adding that the toll was preliminary.
It gave no indication of who carried out the strike.
Sodari, a remote town where desert trade routes cross, is around 230 kilometers (132 miles) northwest of El-Obeid, the state capital of North Kordofan, which the RSF has been trying to encircle for months.
The Kordofan region has seen a surge in deadly drone attacks as both sides fight over the country’s vital east-west axis, which links the western RSF-held region of Darfur, through El-Obeid, to the army-controlled capital Khartoum and the rest of Sudan.
Across vast stretches of territory, attacks by both sides — many on remote towns and villages — have killed up to dozens of civilians at a time.
Last Wednesday, two children were killed and a dozen wounded in one strike on a school, while another severely damaged a United Nations warehouse storing famine relief supplies.
After consolidating their hold on Darfur last year, the RSF has pushed east through oil- and gold-rich Kordofan, in an attempt to seize Sudan’s central corridor.
Since April 2023, the war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced around 11 million, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
It has also effectively split the country in two, with the army holding the center, north and east while the RSF controls the west and, with their allies, parts of the south.
Drone attack on Sudan market kills 28: rights group
https://arab.news/n85tm
Drone attack on Sudan market kills 28: rights group
- Several drones struck the Al-Safiya area market outside the North Kordofan town of Sodari,
Israel police to deploy around Al-Aqsa for Ramadan, Palestinians report curbs
- The Al-Aqsa compound is a central symbol of Palestinian identity and also a frequent flashpoint
JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Monday that they would deploy in force around the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week, as Palestinian officials accused Israel of imposing restrictions at the compound.
Over the course of the month of fasting and prayer, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians traditionally attend prayers at Al-Aqsa — Islam’s third-holiest site, located in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed.
Arad Braverman, a senior Jerusalem police officer, said forces would be deployed “day and night” across the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and in the surrounding area.
He said thousands of police would also be on duty for Friday prayers, which draw the largest crowds of Muslim worshippers.
Braverman said police had recommended issuing 10,000 permits for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, who require special permission to enter Jerusalem.
He did not say whether age limits would apply, adding that the final number of people would be decided by the government.
The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said in a separate statement it had been informed that permits would again be restricted to men over 55 and women over 50, mirroring last year’s criteria.
It said Israeli authorities had blocked the Islamic Waqf — the Jordanian?run body administering the site — from carrying out routine preparations, including installing shade structures and setting up temporary medical clinics.
A Waqf source confirmed the restrictions and said 33 of its employees had been barred from entering the compound in the week before Ramadan.
The Al-Aqsa compound is a central symbol of Palestinian identity and also a frequent flashpoint.
Under long?standing arrangements, Jews may visit the compound — which they revere as the site of their second temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD — but they are not permitted to pray there.
Israel says it is committed to maintaining this status quo, though Palestinians fear it is being eroded.
Braverman reiterated Monday that no changes were planned.
In recent years, a growing number of Jewish ultranationalists have challenged the prayer ban, including far?right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who prayed at the site while serving as national security minister in 2024 and 2025.
