Chad Says a Sudanese Air Strike Killed 12 at a Border Fuel Market
CHAD · GEOPOLITICS
Key Facts
—Twelve dead: A strike on a fuel market near Chad’s eastern border killed at least 12 people and wounded seven on Thursday, a Chadian security source told AFP.
—Second raid in days: Chad says Sudanese aircraft and drones bombed a military convoy on 20 August, more than 100km inside its territory in the eastern Ennedi region. No Chadian casualties were reported in that one.
—Washington names the army: The US embassy in Khartoum condemned the recent strikes on Thursday and attributed them to Sudan’s armed forces.
—Khartoum rejects it: Sudan’s foreign ministry said it was surprised by the accusations and called for an independent inquiry. It said its forces respect its neighbours’ sovereignty.
—Troops moved up: Chad raised its alert level to the maximum and moved about 100 armoured vehicles and signal-jamming trucks near eastern Tine, a local source told Reuters.
—The human backdrop: Nearly one million displaced Sudanese have crossed into Chad since the war began in April 2023, according to the UN.
A Sudanese air strike in Chad killed at least 12 people at a border fuel market on Thursday, according to Chadian officials. The United States condemned the raid and blamed Sudan’s army; Khartoum rejected the charge and asked for an independent investigation.
Where the Sudanese air strike in Chad landed
Chad’s military says the raid struck on Thursday, 27 August, in the Adikoun area near its eastern frontier with Sudan. A Chadian security source told the AFP news agency that 12 people were killed and seven wounded.
Sudan has been at war since April 2023, when the national army and its former allies in the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, turned on each other. The UN says the fighting has killed more than 11,000 civilians and forced over 15 million people from their homes.
The Chadian source said the target was a fuel market where the RSF refuels. That detail is the heart of the matter, because it places a Sudanese military strike on a supply point inside a neighbouring state.
Chad has not published a full casualty breakdown, and it is not yet clear how many of the dead were civilians. Al Jazeera, carrying AFP and Reuters reporting, published the account on 28 August.
A second raid, deeper inside the country
This was not an isolated incident. Chad said on Saturday that Sudanese aircraft and drones had pursued and bombed a military convoy inside its borders two days earlier, on 20 August.
That earlier raid landed more than 100km, about 62 miles, inside Chad in the eastern Ennedi region. Chad’s army reported no Chadian casualties from it.
N’Djamena has since raised its alert level in the area to the maximum. A local source told Reuters that roughly 100 armoured vehicles and signal-jamming trucks were moved near eastern Tine, close to the Sudanese line.
Washington names Sudan’s army
The sharpest reaction this week came from the United States. The US embassy in Khartoum condemned the recent strikes on Chad on Thursday and attributed them to the Sudanese army.
Massad Boulos, the US senior advisor for Arab and African affairs, was blunter still. “The violence must stop in Sudan and beyond,” he wrote on X. “There is no military solution to this conflict and absolutely no justification for expanding the violence beyond Sudan’s borders.”
Publicly naming the army is unusually direct for Washington. On Monday the US also proposed at the UN that the arms embargo on Darfur be extended to cover all of Sudan, warning that the conflict risks expanding across the region.
Khartoum denies the strikes and points at Ethiopia
Sudan’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that it was surprised the allegations came “before any professional and independent investigation” into the incident. It added that its forces respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of Chad.
The ministry went further, accusing the international community of ignoring drone incursions launched from Ethiopia, according to Sudan Tribune. Sudan’s army said it brought down a drone over Blue Nile state on Thursday morning, the third such interception there this week.
Sudan’s army has long accused Chad of siding with the RSF, and UN experts say Chad has been used as a route for weapons from the United Arab Emirates to the paramilitaries. Chad and the UAE deny the allegation.
Why a border war would be expensive for everyone
Chad is the largest single refuge for people fleeing Sudan’s war. Nearly one million displaced Sudanese have crossed the border since fighting began in April 2023, according to the UN.
Those camps sit close to the frontier the strikes are now crossing. Aid convoys, fuel depots and market towns lie within reach of the same aircraft.
Chad has also spent the past year courting outside money for ports, logistics corridors and industrial zones. A shooting war on its eastern flank complicates every one of those conversations.
The African Union urged restraint on Wednesday and warned against the conflict spilling across borders. Its leaders gather in Luanda on 29-30 August for a summit on conflict prevention, with Sudan the file against which whatever they agree will be measured.
What is still unverified
Several load-bearing details in this account rest on single, unnamed sources. The casualty figure comes from a Chadian security source speaking to AFP, and the vehicle movements near Tine from a local source speaking to Reuters.
No independent investigation has reported on either strike. Sudan has asked for one, and none of the parties has published imagery, wreckage analysis or flight data.
So the claims and the denials are reported here as claims and denials. That distinction is the whole of the story until an inquiry exists.
Frequently asked questions
What happened in the Sudanese air strike in Chad?
A Chadian security source told AFP that a strike on a fuel market in the Adikoun area near the Sudanese border killed at least 12 people and wounded seven on Thursday, 27 August. Chad’s army attributed the raid to Sudan’s armed forces.
Has the United States blamed Sudan’s army?
Yes. The US embassy in Khartoum condemned the recent strikes on Chad on Thursday and attributed them to the Sudanese military.
How has Sudan responded to the accusation?
Sudan’s foreign ministry said it was surprised by the accusations and called for an independent investigation. It said its forces respect the sovereignty of neighbouring countries.
How many Sudanese refugees has Chad taken in?
Nearly one million displaced Sudanese have fled into Chad since the war began in April 2023, according to the UN. Chad is the single largest host of people displaced by the conflict.
Connected Coverage
This story belongs to our running series on the contest for the continent, Africa: The New Scramble, and to our coverage of Central Africa. We reported earlier this week on how Khartoum told the UN where it believes the RSF gets its weapons, and in August on Chad’s industrial-zone deal with ARISE and a Chinese grant.
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