Escalating Violence in Sudan: Air Force Bombings Claim Hundreds of Lives

Tue Dec 09 2025 06:47:35 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A recent report reveals that Sudan's air force has conducted devastating bombings in civilian areas, resulting in over 1,700 deaths since the conflict began in April 2023.

Amid an ongoing civil war, Sudan's air force bombings have led to the deaths of at least 1,700 civilians, according to an analysis by the Sudan Witness Project. These airstrikes have targeted schools, markets, and residential neighborhoods, raising allegations of war crimes against the Sudanese Armed Forces. Activists demand accountability and emphasize the urgent need to protect civilians amid escalating violence.

Sudan's air force has carried out bombings in which at least 1,700 civilians have died in attacks on residential neighbourhoods, markets, schools, and camps for displaced people, according to an investigation into air raids in the country's civil war.

The Sudan Witness Project says it has compiled the largest known dataset of military airstrikes in the conflict, which began in April 2023.

Its analysis indicates that the air force has used unguided bombs in populated areas.

The data focuses on attacks by warplanes, which only the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is capable of operating. Its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) does not have aircraft. It launches drone strikes, but drones were excluded from the research.

The RSF has been internationally condemned for allegedly carrying out ethnic massacres in Sudan's western Darfur region, triggering charges of genocide by the United States.

'The RSF are being held responsible for a lot of damage and violations, and I think rightly so,' says Mark Snoeck, who ran the project. 'But I think the SAF should also be held accountable for their actions.'

The military has also faced international criticism, accused of indiscriminate bombings.

The SAF did not respond to a BBC request for comment. But it has previously denied allegations of targeting civilians, saying its airstrikes are 'directed solely at RSF gatherings, locations, and bases recognized as legitimate military targets'.

According to an advance copy of the report obtained by the BBC, Sudan Witness analysed 384 airstrikes conducted between April 2023 and July 2025.

More than 1,700 civilians were reported killed and 1,120 injured in the incidents it documented. The group says these are conservative figures as it takes the lowest reported number.

In 135 cases involving residential areas verified destruction to homes and civilian infrastructure.

Sudan Witness acknowledges that its research is incomplete because the results reflect access to data rather than the total number of strikes. It's hard to get information from conflict zones due to poor telecommunications and the difficulty of identifying credible sources.

But it says through a rigorous methodology, it has been able to build a wider picture of the military's air campaigns, visualising the information in an interactive map that shows the scale and impact on civilian populations.

'For us to say that the Sudanese Armed Forces conducted an airstrike on a certain location at a certain time would more or less require that the SAF be caught in the act in footage that can be verified,' says Mr Snoeck.

The main patterns that emerge are repeated hits on residential neighbourhoods and markets, as well as a large number of alleged strikes on essential humanitarian and medical facilities.

Justin Lynch, managing director at Conflict Insights Group which tracks foreign weapons supplies to Sudan, highlighted the plight of Sudan's civilians in this conflict, using aerial operations which have resulted in a lot of civilian deaths with little military success.

Evidence from the Sudan Witness Project and Human Rights Watch illustrates that neither side is primarily targeting military locations, leading to accusations of war crimes.