A Sudanese army airstrike has destroyed a key government ministry building in El Daein, capital of East Darfur state, leaving dozens of employees and civilians injured, according to officials from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which holds control over the city.
Eyewitnesses described panic sweeping through the city as a high-altitude aircraft, believed to be a drone, unleashed missiles that triggered powerful explosions and sent thick plumes of smoke billowing across the skyline.
Mashaer Mohamed al-Nourein, spokesperson for the RSF’s civilian administration, said the strike caused the “complete destruction” of the Ministry of Urban Planning. She denounced the attack as a “brutal” assault on civilian infrastructure and urged the international community to apply pressure on the army to halt such strikes.
East Darfur has been under RSF control since the early months of the war that broke out between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary group in April 2023. The RSF has set up its own civilian administrations in areas under its control.
El Daein is considered a stronghold of the Rizeigat Arab tribe, from which the RSF’s leadership and many of its fighters originate. The city has endured repeated airstrikes by the Sudanese army, including one in March that targeted the local government headquarters used by the RSF to manage civilian affairs.
Deadly Drone Strike Hits Army Celebration
In a related incident, a suspected RSF drone strike killed at least three people and injured several others on Wednesday in Tumbul, eastern Al Jazirah state. The attack struck a crowd gathered for a military celebration, according to local sources and officials.
The target was an event organised by the Sudan Shield Forces, an ally of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), to mark the army’s 71st anniversary. Among those present were the group’s commander, Abu Aqla Kaikal, senior army officers, and members of the Popular Resistance.
Local sources stated that “a suicide drone…crashed between Al-Shorouq School and Al-Inaya Medical Clinic…killing three people and injuring 10 others, including students.”
A spokesperson for the Sudan Shield Forces accused the “Dagalo militia,” a term often used by opponents to refer to the RSF, of carrying out the “vile and aggressive” attack. He confirmed it caused the “martyrdom and injury of several citizens, including three children.”
Commander Kaikal, in a video statement, dismissed the strike as the “last gasps of a dying beast” and pledged it would only strengthen his forces’ determination. He revealed that reserve troops from the parade would be immediately dispatched to frontlines in Kordofan to help break the siege of El Fasher.
The Sudan Shield Forces, under Kaikal’s leadership, became a crucial SAF ally after breaking away from the RSF in October 2024 — a shift that played a major role in enabling the army and its allies to reclaim all of Al Jazirah and Khartoum states from the paramilitary group.
Footage widely circulated on social media showed Sudan Shield Forces soldiers attempting to down the drone using makeshift weapons mounted on a donkey-drawn cart, locally referred to as a “caro.”
The Tumbul strike echoed an incident last May, when a drone attack on a Sudan Shield Forces camp in the Butana region killed 13 people, including seven soldiers.
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