WHO says 114 people were killed, including 63 children, in last week's drone strikes in Sudan

CAIRO — The head of the World Health Organization said Monday that the death toll from drone strikes on a kindergarten and other sites in Sudan's Kordofan state last week is now at 114 people, including 63 children.

WHO said that there were three separate drone strikes on Kagoli last Thursday. The first targeted the kindergarten and the subsequent strikes targeted paramedics as they were transporting the survivors, and a hospital. The death toll wasn't immediately clear at the time, in part because of communications outages.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the organization ''deplores these senseless attacks on civilians and health facilities, and calls again for an end to the violence, and increased access to humanitarian aid, including health.''

The Sudan Doctor's Network and Emergency Lawyers, groups that track violence against civilians in Sudan, blamed the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, for the strikes.

In a statement Saturday, Emergency Lawyers called the attack ''a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children, and vital civilian infrastructure.''

RSF and the Sudanese military have been engaged in a war since 2023. More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to WHO, and 12 million others displaced. However, aid groups warn that the true death toll is likely far higher.

The battle is now concentrating on the oil-rich Kordofan region, after RSF took over the last military stronghold, el-Fasher, in Darfur, in western Sudan.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk warned last week that Kordofan could face new atrocities like those in el-Fasher.

The humanitarian situation in the Kordofan region is worsening as famine is also spreading after more than two years of the devastating war. Famine was declared last month in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan. Dilling, also in South Kordofan, has reportedly experienced the same hunger conditions as Kadugli.

RSF announced Monday that it took control of the area of Heglig in South Kordofan from the Sudanese military. Heglig hosts the largest oil processing facility in Sudan, and is a key facility in processing oil coming from South Sudan. Oil from landlocked South Sudan has to pass through Sudan for export.

In November, RSF drone attacks on two key oil installations, including Helglig, forced a temporary emergency shutdown, halting production and export from South Sudan.

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to journalists, acknowledged the RSF's takeover of the oil facility. He said that military forces withdrew to avoid further destruction there.