Drone strikes killed at least 306 people in Sudan during the first three weeks of October, the United Nations Human Rights Office documented, as UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk condemned a sharp escalation and demanded a ceasefire. Türk said drones already account for the majority of conflict-related civilian deaths in Sudan this year, describing an increasingly devastating toll as attacks destroy essential services, force more people from their homes and deepen the humanitarian crisis, according to reporting on October 26 that remains the authoritative UN count heading into October 28.
Markets, hospitals and power stations hit
Strikes attributed to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) hit homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites, power stations and water sources, across Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum and other states, the UN said. Hundreds more people were injured in the same period. The pattern continued into this week: a market strike in Nyala killed 21 people according to hospital sources, and a drone attack on the Al-Markhiyat transformer station cut power across large parts of Khartoum. The United States on Friday urged the UN Security Council to push for a humanitarian truce and expand an arms embargo on Sudan, but China and Russia opposed widening the embargo, according to reporting.
The world’s largest humanitarian crisis
The UN says about 13 million people have been forced from their homes in Sudan, creating what aid groups call the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Across the country, 33.7 million people urgently need food support this year, including an estimated 825,000 children facing severe acute malnutrition, according to UN figures cited in reporting. Drones have transformed the war’s geography: neither side needs to hold ground to kill at distance, and civilian infrastructure — the grid, the water pumps, the market — has become a target in itself. That, Türk argued, is why the drone toll now dominates the civilian casualty count.
What happens next
The Security Council debate over a humanitarian truce and an expanded arms embargo is the immediate diplomatic test. Without it, aid groups warn, the October drone toll is likely to be repeated in November.
