Over 1,600 killed in Sudan attacks on health facilities

Attacks on hospitals and medical facilities in conflict-torn Sudan have killed more than 1,600 people this year, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday, highlighting the devastating impact of the ongoing war.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency has documented 65 assaults on health centers since January, which have also injured at least 276 people.

The most recent attack occurred Sunday when a drone struck a military hospital in Diling, the capital of South Kordofan province, a key battleground between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Tedros reported that the strike killed nine people and injured 17.

“Each attack further denies people access to health care and essential medicines,” he said, noting that many facilities remain damaged and struggle to resume services.

The Sudan Doctors Network, a monitoring group of medical professionals, accused the RSF of carrying out the drone strike on the Diling hospital.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the Diling casualties are part of a broader toll of at least 104 deaths from attacks across the Kordofan region since December 4.

Health facilities have increasingly become targets in the conflict. In October, an RSF assault on the Saudi Hospital in el-Fasher, Darfur, left at least 460 dead, with doctors and nurses abducted during the attack, according to WHO.

Sudan descended into violence in April 2023 after a power struggle between the military and the RSF escalated into open warfare in Khartoum and quickly spread nationwide.

Now in its third year, the conflict has claimed over 40,000 lives, though humanitarian organizations warn the actual toll is likely much higher. The war has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 14 million people and fueling disease outbreaks and famine across multiple regions.