Drone strike kills more than 150 at Abyei market

A drone strike on Amiet market, north of Abyei town, killed at least 153 people on Monday, according to Yohanna Akol Ngor, the Abyei administration's caretaker information minister. Rescue teams were still digging through the market site as the count rose.

A witness described five large explosions and a fire that spread to a fuel depot nearby. He helped evacuate casualties with shrapnel wounds to their stomachs and legs, and counted 28 burnt bodies at a single site. Doctors Without Borders said more than 20 wounded were brought to Ameth Bek hospital, where its teams worked alongside staff from South Sudan's health ministry; the medical activities manager there, Dr Christian Lindauer, reported several critical cases and burns among the patients.

Akol Ngor blamed Sudan's military for the strike, without providing evidence. The military did not respond to a request for comment. South Sudan's foreign ministry went further, summoning Sudan's ambassador to protest and urging Sudan to "refrain from any actions that endanger civilian lives and property."

The strike pushed the death toll from attacks in recent days past 250. On Sunday, a drone strike near a market in West Kordofan killed 80 people, most of them commuters catching rides home. On Friday, an attack on a market in Nyala, a stronghold of the Rapid Support Forces, killed 23 people and injured 44, according to volunteers there. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF has run since April 2023, and markets have absorbed several of its worst days. MSF called on all parties to stop attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, and said it was concerned about people's ability to safely reach healthcare and other essential services.

Abyei sits on the war's fault line. The oil-rich region is claimed by both countries and jointly administered, an arrangement left unresolved when South Sudan declared independence in 2011, and it borders Kordofan, now a major centre of the fighting. Amiet market was the trading hub where the Ngok Dinka, the region's majority, who favor joining South Sudan, met the Misseriya nomads, who use its pastures and favor Sudan — the two communities whose rival claims have kept Abyei disputed since 2011.