Sudan army breaks siege on Kadugli, RSF drone kills eight

Khartoum: A paramilitary drone attack on the southern Sudan city of Kadugli killed eight civilians including three children on Tuesday, hours after th...

Khartoum: A paramilitary drone attack on the southern Sudan city of Kadugli killed eight civilians including three children on Tuesday, hours after the army broke a punishing siege on the city.

The South Kordofan state capital Kadugli, where the United Nations confirmed a famine last year, had been under siege for much of Sudan's nearly three-year war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Tuesday congratulated the people of Kadugli on the army's advance, the latest reversal of a paramilitary offensive through the crucial Kordofan region.

Hours later, an RSF drone attack rocked the city, where civilians who had endured months of famine had begun to celebrate, a military source told AFP. All but one were shot down by army defences, with a single drone striking a health centre and killing eight civilians, a medical source in the city told AFP.

Asked to confirm the army victory, an RSF source told AFP the paramilitary "remained nearby and will continue to besiege" both Kadugli and Dilling, where the army broke a similar siege late last month.