Thursday, October 8, 2026
📍 From the Field UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Adele Khodr said that a drone attack targeted a mosque in El Fasher on Monday, resulting in the killing of at least eight children, including an 18-month-old infant, and the injury of nine others, noting that the mosque was operating as a community kitchen feeding vulnerable children and their families; she added that credible reports indicate the mutilation of more than 400 children in El Fasher since May 2024. (Source: UNICEF via Eastleigh Voice)
In North Kordofan, the Sudan Doctors Network confirmed the killing of 24 people, including eight children, last Saturday in a drone raid by the Rapid Support Forces that targeted a vehicle carrying displaced families near the city of Al-Rahad, a day after the targeting of an aid convoy belonging to the World Food Programme; the Programme said that 17 aid trucks have been destroyed and eight drivers killed in similar attacks over the past two years. (Sources: Sudan Doctors Network / World Food Programme via Eastleigh Voice)
1️⃣ The drone war escalates: Mutual raids and the army prepares for a "wide-scale operation" Drones belonging to the Rapid Support Forces targeted the headquarters of the 18th Infantry Division in the city of Kosti in White Nile State, and hit parts of the financial administration buildings inside the command, according to testimonies from citizens who heard the sound of powerful explosions, while the division's command did not issue an official statement on the scale of losses. In return, the army's drone aviation carried out raids on Rapid Support Forces gatherings in Abu Zabad in West Kordofan, Jabal Abu Sunun north of El Obeid, Yabus in Blue Nile and the border triangle area, amid talk of the completion of the army's arrangements for a "wide-scale" operation in Kordofan and Darfur. (Sources: Al-Ain News via Wah News) 💡 Quick reading: The drones have become the mutual arm of decisiveness for both sides — and Kordofan is turning into the theatre of the next major battle.
2️⃣ El Fasher: 16 civilians killed by rocket shelling and drones on Wednesday The Sudan Doctors Network announced the killing of 16 civilians, including 3 women, and the injury of 21 others, including 5 children, as a result of rocket shelling and drone raids it described as deliberate that targeted residential neighbourhoods in El Fasher yesterday, Wednesday. Separately, the Resistance Committees in El Fasher said that a drone targeted a gathering of civilians in the Al-Daraja Al-Ula neighbourhood west of the city, leaving 8 dead and a number of wounded. (Sources: Sudan Doctors Network / Resistance Committees in El Fasher via Eastleigh Voice) 💡 Quick reading: El Fasher pays daily the price of remaining outside any truce — and civilians alone are in the line of fire.
3️⃣ South Sudan: Debate in Juba over banning foreigners from small retail The Acting Commissioner of Juba County, Callisto Lado, directed on Monday foreigners to stay away from small retail activities and leave them to citizens, giving kiosk owners a seven-day deadline to comply with new standards; he then denied on Tuesday issuing any order for foreigners to leave the country, saying his statements were misunderstood, while the Embassy of South Sudan in Kampala hastened to disavow the statements, confirming that they do not represent the position of the national government and that an official statement would be issued. (Sources: People Daily / UG Bulletin / South Sudan Newswire) 💡 Quick reading: Confused local statements open the door to regional tension with Kenya and Uganda — and Juba hastens to contain it.
— Editorial Team