Dozens killed in rebel attacks on Sudan’s Kordofan, medical group says

What the report says

A Sudanese medical group says rebel attacks in South Kordofan have killed 27 people, including four children, in the latest violence to hit the country’s western and southern conflict zones. In a statement reported by Al Jazeera on Tuesday, the Sudan Doctors Network said the assaults were carried out by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, or SPLM-N, in the Qardud and Abu Hamama areas, which are inhabited by the Otoro tribe.

The group said the attacks triggered displacement toward Abu Hitan and Kadugli and also left women wounded. It described the targeting of civilians on ethnic grounds as a breach of international humanitarian law and warned that the violence could widen the ethnic dimension of the conflict in South Kordofan.

Al Jazeera reported that the killings came after earlier fighting this year between SPLM-N-linked forces and the Otoro community, with land disputes contributing to the tension. The article said SPLM-N leader Abdel Aziz al-Hilu has aligned with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and joined the RSF-backed parallel administration. That alliance is part of the broader Sudan war, which began in April 2023 between the army and the RSF.

The report also noted the wider humanitarian toll of the conflict, with millions displaced and large-scale aid needs across Sudan, underscoring why localized attacks in Kordofan matter beyond the immediate death toll.