A strike on a healthcare facility in Sudan has killed 64 people and wounded 89 more, the World Health Organization reported on Saturday. The deceased included 13 children, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media.
The UN’s humanitarian office in Sudan had earlier said it was “appalled by the attack on a hospital in East Darfur yesterday, reportedly killing dozens, including children, and injuring more.”
Sudanese rights group the Emergency Lawyers, who document atrocities in the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, reported it was an army drone strike that hit the El-Daein Teaching Hospital.
The RSF dominates the vast western Darfur region, while the army is in control of Sudan’s east, centre and north.
The WHO’s Surveillance System for Attacks marked Friday’s incident as “confirmed” but did not give an exact location. The attack involved “violence with heavy weapons” and affected a secondary healthcare facility, medical personnel, patients, supplies and storage, the record showed.
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Though the WHO counts and verifies attacks on healthcare, it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigative agency.
El-Daein, the RSF-controlled state capital of East Darfur, has been regularly attacked by the army, which is trying to push the paramilitary back towards its Darfur strongholds and away from Sudan’s central corridor.
Its most recent strike on the city’s market earlier this month set fire to oil barrels that burned for hours.
Near-daily drone strikes are now a hallmark of Sudan’s brutal war, killing dozens at a time, mostly in the Southern Kordofan region.
UN rights chief Volker Turk this month said he was “appalled” after more than 200 civilians were reported killed by drone attacks within an eight-day period.
“Parties to the conflict in Sudan continue to use increasingly powerful drones to deploy explosive weapons with wide-area impacts in populated areas,” he said.
To the repeated condemnation of the UN, hospitals have been a regular target throughout the war.
By December, more than 1,800 people had been killed in attacks on health facilities since the start of the war, including 173 health workers, according to the United Nations.
This year, a total of 12 attacks on healthcare in Sudan have been recorded, causing 178 deaths and 237 injuries.
Across the country, the war has killed tens of thousands and driven more than 11 million people from their homes.
It has fuelled what the UN describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises, with more than 33 million people in need of humanitarian aid. APA
