Sudan air force bombing of towns, markets,schools leaves hundreds dead, report says

Sudan’s air force has carried out bombings in which at least 1,700 civilians have died in attacks on residential neighbourhoods, markets, schools, and camps for displaced people, according to an investigation into air raids in the country’s civil war.

The Sudan Witness Project said it had compiled the largest known dataset of military airstrikes in the conflict, which began in April 2023.

Its analysis indicates that the air force had used unguided bombs in populated areas, reports the BBC.

The data focus on attacks by warplanes, which only the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) was capable of operating, and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) does not have aircraft.

It launches drone strikes, but drones were excluded from the research.

The RSF had been internationally condemned for allegedly carrying out ethnic massacres in Sudan’s western Darfur region, triggering charges of genocide by the United States.

“The RSF is being held responsible for a lot of damage and violations, and I think rightly so,” says Mark Snoeck, who ran the project. “But I think the SAF should also be held accountable for their actions.”

The military had also faced international criticism, accused of indiscriminate bombings.

The SAF did not respond to a BBC request for comment but it had previously denied allegations of targeting civilians, saying its airstrikes are “directed solely at RSF gatherings, locations and bases recognized as legitimate military targets”.

Sudan Witness was an initiative by the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), a non-profit group that works to expose human rights violations. It received funding from the British Foreign Ministry for this project.

According to an advance copy of the report obtained by the BBC, Sudan Witness analysed 384 airstrikes conducted between April 2023 and July 2025.

More than 1,700 civilians were reported killed and 1,120 injured in the incidents it documented. The group said these were conservative figures as it takes the lowest reported number.

There were 135 cases involving residential areas, with verified destruction to homes and civilian infrastructure.

In 35 instances the bombs struck markets and commercial facilities, often when they were crowded with people and 19 strikes affected vulnerable groups in places like health facilities, sites housing displaced people, and educational institutions.

Sudan Witness acknowledges that its research was incomplete because the results reflect access to data rather than the total number of strikes.

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