Tragic Rebel Artillery Attack in Sudan's South Kordofan Leaves Five Dead, Including a Child

At least five people, including a child, have lost their lives and several others sustained injuries after a Sudanese rebel group launched an attack on residential neighborhoods in the South Kordofan province, medical authorities report.

Released in a statement on Friday, the Sudan Doctors Network accused the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) of executing the artillery bombardment in the town of Dilling. The organization condemned the heavy shelling of civilian areas as a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, which has caused civilian casualties and aggravated an already critical humanitarian crisis.

“The Sudan Doctors Network calls on the international community to take immediate action to end these violations and exert meaningful pressure on the leadership of the SPLM-N (al-Hilu Faction) to cease attacks against civilians and residential areas,” the statement urged.

The SPLM-N operates as a breakaway faction of the SPLM, which is the governing party of neighboring South Sudan. Its leader, Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, has integrated his fighters with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied with the RSF-led parallel government in Sudan.

In a separate announcement issued just hours prior, the medical group reported that SPLM-N forces assaulted the areas of Debi and Luweri near the town of Kauda on Thursday, resulting in the deaths of over 21 individuals, among them women and children. According to the network, these assaults specifically targeted the Otoro tribe, a minority community residing in the Nuba Mountains.

These fatalities follow earlier clashes this year sparked by land disputes, which have compounded the ethnic tensions surrounding Sudan's broader civil war between the Sudanese army and the RSF.

This renewed violence persisted despite a ceasefire initiative supported by the RSF last month. Al-Hilu declined to commit to the agreement, and his troops proceeded to attack at least 10 Otoro villages, leading to the displacement of thousands of civilians between August 20 and 26.

This escalation aligns with broader warnings issued by a United Nations-backed independent fact-finding mission. The mission reported on Thursday that foreign interference—including external supply chains, foreign personnel, and military drones—is fueling the conflict and worsening the violence directed at civilians across the nation.

Ever since conflict erupted between the Sudanese military and the RSF in April 2023, the war has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced roughly 13 million people, and driven parts of the country into famine. Data from the World Health Organization indicates that nearly 34 million people, equating to about two-thirds of Sudan’s total population, now depend on urgent humanitarian assistance.