RSF Drone Strike on Sudan Courthouse Kills at Least 10 in North Kordofan
SUDAN · SECURITY
Key Facts
- —What happened A drone strike blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) hit the courthouse in Umm Ruwaba, North Kordofan state, on Tuesday.
- —The toll The Emergency Lawyers rights group gave a preliminary count of 10 dead and dozens injured, while Sudan Horizon and Sudan Tribune reported about 13 killed and 22 wounded.
- —The target The strike hit a courthouse, a civilian and judicial facility, and the lawyers’ group demanded an immediate halt to attacks on civilians and an independent investigation. The RSF did not comment.
- —The pattern The United Nations said in August that 1,100 civilians were killed in drone attacks in Sudan in the first six months of this year alone.
- —The front line The three Kordofan states have been contested between the army and the RSF since last October, and Umm Ruwaba sits on the road between the state capital El Obeid and Khartoum.
A drone strike on the courthouse in Umm Ruwaba has killed at least ten people, in the deadliest single attack yet on a judicial facility in Sudan’s drone war. This article updates our earlier report on the North Kordofan drone campaign, and the pattern it documented has not changed.
What happened in Umm Ruwaba
The strike hit the courthouse in Umm Ruwaba, a city in eastern North Kordofan, on Tuesday, according to the Sudanese Emergency Lawyers, an independent group that documents atrocities in the war.
The group put the preliminary death toll at 10 with dozens injured and attributed the attack to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary that has fought the army since April 2023. Sudan Horizon, a Sudanese monitoring outlet, and Sudan Tribune reported a higher figure of about 13 killed and 22 wounded, citing monitoring and medical sources. The RSF did not immediately comment.
Emergency Lawyers warned that the attack deepens the danger to civilians and court workers across Sudan, and called for an immediate end to strikes on civilian and judicial facilities and for an independent and transparent investigation.
A courthouse is not a barracks
The choice of target is what distinguishes this strike. Sudan’s drone war has so far concentrated on markets, civilian vehicles, water points and fuel stations. A courthouse is where a state’s civilian authority sits in its most literal form — judges, clerks, plaintiffs and witnesses.
Hitting it extends the campaign from disrupting daily life to disrupting what remains of civilian government in the contested states. International humanitarian law treats judicial buildings as civilian objects unless they are being used for military purposes, and no such use has been alleged in Umm Ruwaba.
The arithmetic of the drone war
The numbers have been climbing all year. The United Nations said on August 24 that 1,100 civilians had been killed in drone attacks in Sudan between January and June alone. Earlier UN figures showed drones accounting for more than 80 percent of conflict-related civilian deaths in the first four months of the year.
We reported less than two weeks ago on a strike in the Um Sharu area of Sodari locality, also in North Kordofan, where drones killed eight civilians travelling on the road and then returned to hit people trying to rescue the wounded. That strike destroyed four civilian vehicles.
The Sodari strike went unattributed; the lawyers blamed neither side. In Umm Ruwaba, they named the RSF. Both sides of the war operate drones, and attribution in past incidents has shifted as evidence emerged, which is why the group’s call for an independent investigation matters.
The Kordofan front
North, West and South Kordofan have been contested since last October, when the RSF pushed east out of Darfur. The region sits between the RSF’s Darfur strongholds and the army-held capital, and both sides treat it as the decisive corridor of the war’s fourth year.
Umm Ruwaba lies on the road between El Obeid, the state capital, and Khartoum. The army recently took Hamrat al-Wiz, north-west of the city, and is reported to be preparing an advance on Sodari. Drone strikes on the towns behind that front line are how the RSF, which has fewer aircraft but a growing drone fleet, answers an army advance.
What to watch
The first thing is the confirmed toll. The gap between the lawyers’ preliminary ten and the thirteen reported by Sudanese monitors has typically closed upward in past strikes as hospitals finish counting.
The second is whether the RSF acknowledges or denies the attack. Silence has been its standard response to documented strikes on civilians, and it has been the response so far.
The third is the diplomacy. The strike landed on the same day that international envoys began their first wartime talks in Khartoum, with prisoner releases and civilian protection at the top of their agenda.
Frequently asked questions
What was hit in Umm Ruwaba?
The city’s courthouse in North Kordofan state was hit by a drone strike on Tuesday, September 8. A courthouse is a civilian and judicial facility, not a military one.
How many people were killed?
The Emergency Lawyers group gave a preliminary toll of 10 dead and dozens injured. Sudan Horizon and Sudan Tribune reported about 13 killed and 22 wounded, citing monitoring and medical sources.
Who carried out the strike?
Emergency Lawyers blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The RSF had not commented at the time of publication, and the lawyers have called for an independent investigation.
How widespread are drone attacks in Sudan?
The United Nations says 1,100 civilians were killed in drone attacks in the first six months of 2026 alone, and that drones caused more than 80 percent of conflict-related civilian deaths early in the year. The Kordofan region has been a front line since October 2025.
Connected Coverage
This article updates our report on the drone strike that killed eight travellers in North Kordofan in late August. For the wider front, see the RSF’s claimed gains in Blue Nile.
Sources: Anadolu Agency – 10 killed, dozens wounded in Sudan’s North Kordofan state, 8 September 2026 · Sudan Tribune – RSF drone strike kills at least 13 at North Kordofan courthouse, September 2026 · Darfur24 – 13 civilians killed in drone strike on Umm Ruwaba court, 9 September 2026
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