More than 30 children dead as drone hits kindergarten in Sudan

A drone attack by the Sudanese paramilitary forces hit a kindergarten in south-central Sudan, killing 50 people, including 33 children, a doctors’ group said.

Paramedics on the scene in the town of Kalogi in South Kordofan state were targeted in “a second unexpected attack," Sudan Doctors’ Network said.

Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence against civilians in Sudan, reported the second strike on paramedics treating survivors in Kalogi and said “a third civilian site near the previous two” was also attacked.

The group condemned the attack, blaming the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, for the strikes, calling them “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children, and vital civilian infrastructure.”

The death toll is expected to be higher, but communication blackouts in the area have made it difficult to report casualties.

Thursday's attack is the latest in the fighting between the RSF, and the Sudanese military, who have been at war for over two years. It is now concentrating in the oil-rich Kordofan states.

“Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights,” said Unicef Representative for Sudan Sheldon Yett in a statement.

“Children should never pay the price of conflict,” said Yett.

Unicef urges all parties “to stop these attacks immediately and allow safe, unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to reach those in desperate need", he said.

Hundreds of civilians were killed throughout the Kordofan states in the last few weeks as intensified fighting shifted from Darfur after the RSF took over the besieged city of El Fasher in North Darfur.

Sudanese military aerial strikes on Sunday killed at least 48 people, mostly civilians, in Kauda, South Kordofan.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned that Kordofan could face new atrocities like those in El Fasher.

Separately, the RSF condemned in a statement on Friday a drone strike on the Chad-Sudan border, accusing the Sudanese military of being behind it and posted a video showing billowing black smoke. This couldn't be independently verified and it is unclear whether there were casualties in this strike, Associated Press reported. There was no immediate comment from the Sudanese military.

RSF’s violent takeover of El Fasher was marked with executions of civilians, rapes and sexual assaults, and other atrocities. Thousands escaped and thousands more are feared killed or trapped in the city.

The RSF and the Sudanese military have been fighting for power ove