Sudan Kindergarten Attacks Kill Over 100 as WHO Confirms Rising Civilian Casualties
More than 100 people — including dozens of children — have been confirmed dead following a series of strikes on a kindergarten in Sudan’s South Kordofan State, according to information PulseNets learnt from international health officials on Monday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement posted on X that the December 4 incident began with repeated attacks on a kindergarten, with responders overwhelmed by the scale of the devastation.
In his words, “Disturbingly, paramedics and responders came under attack as they tried to move the injured from the kindergarten to the hospital.”
Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the assault, which it alleged was carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) using drones. According to data obtained by PulseNets from the WHO’s emergency database, heavy weapons were deployed during the strikes, leaving 114 people dead — among them 63 children — while another 35 sustained varying degrees of injuries.
A WHO spokesperson, who spoke to PulseNets, explained that the casualty figure reflects victims from the kindergarten, those hit during the transfer of the injured to a nearby rural hospital, and additional attacks on the hospital itself. Most of the children, he said, died in the initial wave of strikes, while several parents and healthcare workers were later caught in subsequent assaults.
Health facilities across Sudan have continued to come under fire amid the country’s 2½-year civil war. International monitors say the pattern of violence mirrors earlier atrocities, including the mass killing in al-Fashir in October, which Reuters reported at the time.
The RSF has not issued a fresh response to inquiries regarding the latest attacks. The group has, in previous statements, denied deliberately targeting civilians and maintained that any personnel found guilty of violations would face internal accountability.
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Meanwhile, Tedros confirmed that surviving victims have been transferred to another medical facility. He added that “urgent appeals for medical supplies and blood donations are now underway as local systems struggle to cope with the influx of casualties.”
(Reuters/NAN)
