The Digester

Drone strike kills at least 17, mostly schoolgirls, in Sudan’s White Nile

Mar 13th 2026

An explosive-laden drone blamed on the Rapid Support Forces hit a school and a health centre in the village of Shukeiri, killing at least 17 people and wounding 10, officials said.

  • At least 17 people, most of them schoolgirls, were killed when an explosive-laden drone struck a secondary school and a health care centre in Shukeiri, White Nile province.
  • Ten people were wounded and three girls suffered serious injuries; two underwent surgery at Douiem hospital and one was evacuated to Khartoum, said Dr Musa al-Majeri.
  • The war-tracking Sudan Doctors Network said the dead included two teachers and a health worker and that there was no military presence in the village.
  • Both the medical group and local hospital officials blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for the strike, and the RSF did not respond to requests for comment.
  • The attack is the latest in nearly three years of fighting between Sudan's military and the RSF that the UN says has killed more than 40,000 people.
  • The conflict has seen frequent drone attacks in Kordofan and widespread atrocities under investigation by the International Criminal Court.
  • In October, RSF and allied forces overran el-Fasher in Darfur in an assault UN experts said bore hallmarks of genocide, with the UN human rights office reporting at least 6,000 deaths in three days.