Sudan strikes kill 112, rights group says

Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers said airstrikes killed 72 civilian miners at a gold mine near Sudan’s Egypt border on Saturday, Moneycontrol reported Oct. 11.

The reported toll, described by the group as preliminary, adds to a war that has killed at least 150,000 people since April 2023, according to conflict monitor ACLED.

Emergency Lawyers accused the Egyptian air force of carrying out the mine attack. Spokespersons for the Sudanese and Egyptian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Moneycontrol reported, and Sudanese authorities had issued no immediate public statement.

Sudan Tribune reported that fighter aircraft struck the Al-Uqaydat gold mine near the Al-Ansari mining market in River Nile state at least five times. The outlet said it could not independently confirm the casualty count or determine which aircraft were involved.

The Sudan Doctors Network separately reported casualties among artisanal miners in the border area, citing preliminary information. Mirghani Malik, an artisanal miner, told Sudan Tribune that at least 20 injured workers were taken to the Al-Ansari market for emergency treatment.

Malik said hundreds of miners fled toward nearby mountain ridges, where they faced shortages of drinking water and other supplies. Images and footage shared by workers appeared to show casualties and damage to mining camps, though the material had not been independently verified.

The reported attack comes as tension has risen along the Sudan-Egypt frontier. Egyptian border guards have accused Sudanese prospectors of crossing an unmarked boundary to mine near sites operated by Egyptian companies.

In June, Egypt’s military said it conducted security operations in its southern border region against gold prospecting, smuggling and illegal crossings. The military said those operations led to more than 200 arrests, while similar strikes in the frontier area that month caused casualties among Sudanese miners, Moneycontrol reported.

Sudan’s artisanal gold industry supports more than 2 million people and produces more than 80% of the country’s gold output. The sector has grown as the war between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces has pushed people toward alternative livelihoods.

In a separate incident on Friday, Emergency Lawyers said a drone strike killed at least 40 people, including children, in the Abu Shandi area of Blue Nile state near the Ethiopian border. The group accused the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary force fighting Sudan’s army, of carrying out that attack.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it was “appalled” by the Blue Nile attack, according to Moneycontrol. Aid groups say the actual death toll from Sudan’s war is likely higher than ACLED’s figure of at least 150,000 people.

Both casualty figures from the reported strikes remain preliminary, and no independent verification of responsibility for either attack was reported.

Source: news report, Moneycontrol, Oct. 11, 2026