CONFLICT WATCH — Sudan · Civilians, emergency care and accountability

(Nyala, Sudan) — Civilian vendors were among the people killed when a strike hit a crowded evening market in Nyala, South Darfur, on October 26, according to hospital evidence and witness accounts. The final toll remains unresolved, with medical groups, local authorities and rights organizations reporting materially different figures.

Médecins Sans Frontières said the Nyala Teaching Hospital it supports received 36 bodies and treated more than 150 wounded people after the strike. MSF said 21 of the dead were wearing civilian clothing and that patients included women and children. Those numbers describe people received at one hospital; they are not a comprehensive count of everyone killed or wounded.

A market, a residential area and a hospital under pressure

MSF said a drone struck the market in western Nyala at about 8 p.m. and that a second strike hit a residential neighbourhood. Its staff described people arriving with shrapnel injuries and burns, some carried by tuk-tuks and donkey carts while medical teams worked through the night.

Associated Press reporters spoke with two witnesses. One said Rapid Support Forces fighters had gathered at the market and that the explosion killed fighters and women selling food. Another estimated that about 14 civilians were killed, most of them women who sold tea and food. Both spoke anonymously because they feared reprisals.

The witnesses' accounts show why legal and casualty classifications cannot be reduced to a single label. Fighters were reportedly present, but the market also supported civilians earning income and buying daily necessities. Clothing alone does not establish every victim's legal status, and TNC has not independently identified those killed.

AP also reported that some people remained missing and that bodies had not yet been recovered from homes after the strike reached a civilian neighbourhood.

Why the numbers differ

The Sudan Doctors Network said at least 21 people were killed and more than 40 wounded. In reporting published October 28, Sudan Tribune said the group delayed its statement because active fighting and insecurity obstructed access to records, victim identification and a complete casualty list.

Emergency Lawyers reported more than 100 killed and 113 wounded. Authorities in the RSF-aligned Tasees administration later put the toll at 188 dead and 356 wounded, according to Dabanga. Neither AP nor TNC could independently verify those larger figures.

Radio Tamazuj separately reported that the Darfur Victims Organization had documented 14 civilian deaths while receiving a much higher overall killed-or-wounded estimate from witnesses. The difference between a documented subset, a hospital intake and an authority's citywide claim is one reason the totals should not be merged or presented as settled.

Responsibility and competing claims

MSF attributed the market strike to the Sudanese Armed Forces. Emergency Lawyers, the RSF-aligned South Darfur authorities and witnesses cited by regional outlets also attributed the drone to the army. Sudan Tribune reported on October 28 that a Sudanese military spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

An army-aligned Special Operations Forces spokesperson offered a different description, telling followers that more than 150 RSF recruits were killed in what he called a precise strike on a camp west of Nyala, AP reported. That claim does not resolve who was killed, whether precautions were taken or whether the market and nearby homes were lawfully targeted.

No court or independent investigation has determined responsibility or the strike's legality. The reported presence of fighters does not remove the obligation to distinguish civilians from combatants and take feasible precautions to reduce civilian harm.

Food access and malnutrition

Markets in Nyala are not only trading sites. They are places where people obtain food and where civilians try to earn money in a city shaped by war and unemployment. MSF warned that attacks on markets threaten access to food and supplies while malnutrition is worsening.

The October 26 strike followed a separate October 16 strike on Nyala's livestock market. MSF said that earlier incident killed at least four people and wounded others. The repetition adds to fears surrounding civilian gathering places and the health system expected to absorb mass casualties.

AP reported that the share of children seeking treatment for severe acute malnutrition in RSF-controlled Nyala more than doubled between January and August, from five per cent to 11 per cent, citing UN figures released in October. That indicator concerns children seeking treatment, not all children in the city.

How this report was checked

TNC reviewed MSF's October 27 account from the hospital it supports, AP's October 29 witness reporting, and October 27-28 reports from Sudan Tribune, Dabanga and Radio Tamazuj. The sources agree that the market was struck and civilians were among the casualties. They do not establish one final toll.

This article is based on published reporting and humanitarian documentation. TNC conducted no original interviews, field visit or outreach.

Sources and reporting dates

Cover: Editorial illustration of a damaged evening market in Nyala. It does not depict a documented scene, identifiable people or the October 26 strike itself.