Kordofan
\nSix United Nations peacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed on Saturday in a drone strike on Sudan\u2019s southern Kordofan region, the UN mission said, with Dhaka sharply condemning the attack.
\nThe United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) said \u201csix troops were killed and six injured\u201d, including four seriously, when a drone hit their camp in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state. All of the victims are from Bangladesh, it said.
\nUN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the \u201chorrific\u201d attack, saying it \u201cmay constitute war crimes under international law\u201d.
\n\u201cAttacks as the one today in South Kordofan against peacekeepers, are unjustifiable. There will need to be accountability,\u201d he said in a statement.
\nBangladesh\u2019s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, in a statement, said he was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by the attack, and put the toll at six dead and eight wounded.
\nHe asked the UN to ensure that his country\u00b4s personnel were offered \u201cany necessary emergency support\u201d. \u201cThe government of Bangladesh will stand by the families in this difficult moment,\u201d Yunus added.
\nDhaka\u2019s foreign ministry said it \u201cstrongly condemned\u201d the attack.
\nUN peacekeepers are deployed to Abyei, a disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan.
\nFires blazing
\nA medical source had earlier told AFP that the strike on a United Nations facility in Kadugli killed at least six people, with witnesses saying they were UN employees.
\n\u201cSix people were killed in a bombing of the UN headquarters while they were inside the building,\u201d the medical source at the city\u00b4s hospital said.
\nEyewitnesses said a drone had hit the UN facility.
\nThe Sudanese army published a video on its Facebook page showing fires blazing and two columns of smoke rising from the UNISFA base.
\nThe army-aligned government based in Port Sudan issued a statement condemning the attack and accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of being behind it.
\nIn a statement, the Sovereignty Council, headed by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, called the attack a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d.
\nThe RSF in a statement on Telegram said it rejected \u201cthe claims and allegations… regarding an air attack that targeted the United Nations headquarters in Kadugli, and the accompanying false accusations against our forces of being behind it through the use of a drone\u201d.
\nMeanwhile, Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris said that \u201cthe terrorist rebel militia has met all the conditions to be classified as a terrorist group\u201d, and urged the UN to \u201cbring the perpetrators to justice\u201d.
\nKadugli, where famine was declared in early November, has been besieged for a year and a half by the RSF.
\nStrategic position
\nFollowing their late-October capture of El-Fasher \u2014 the army\u2019s last stronghold in Sudan\u2019s western Darfur region \u2014 the RSF have pushed eastward into the oil-rich Kordofan region, divided into three states.
\nKordofan is a vast agricultural region that lies between RSF-controlled Darfur in the west and army-held areas in the north, east and centre.
\nIts position is important for maintaining supply lines and moving troops.
\nThe RSF has been at war with the military since April 2023 and has deployed fighters, drones and allied militias to the fertile region.
\nAnalysts say the RSF seek to punch through the army\u2019s defences around central Sudan, paving the way for recapturing Khartoum.
\nLast week, strikes on a kindergarten and hospital in Kalogi in South Kordofan killed 114 people, including 63 children, according to the UN\u2019s World Health Organisation.
\nSudan\u2019s war has so far killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and resulted in one of the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crises.
\nEfforts to end the war have so far failed.
\nLast month, US President Donald Trump said he would move to end the conflict following discussions in Washington with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but the initiative has yet to materialise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kordofan Six United Nations peacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed on Saturday in a drone strike on Sudan\u2019s southern Kordofan region, the UN mission said, with Dhaka sharply condemning the attack. The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) said \u201csix troops were killed and six injured\u201d, including four seriously, when a drone hit their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-520059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n