More than 100 people, including dozens of children, were killed in attacks on a kindergarten in Sudan that continued while parents and caretakers rushed the wounded to a nearby hospital, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
Health facilities in Sudan have repeatedly come under attack near the frontlines of the country’s more than two-year civil war. A massacre also occurred in October in the city of al-Fashir, Reuters reported.
The attacks on December 4 began with repeated strikes on a kindergarten in South Kordofan state, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“Disturbingly, paramedics and responders came under attack as they tried to move the injured from the kindergarten to the hospital,” he said.
Sudan’s foreign ministry condemned the attacks it said were carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) using drones.
The WHO database said heavy weapons were used and 114 people, including 63 children, were killed and 35 wounded.
A WHO spokesperson said the toll combines casualties from the kindergarten strikes, the transfer of patients to the adjacent rural hospital and attacks at the facility itself. Most children were killed in the initial strike, while parents and medics were later among the victims, he said.
The RSF did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It has previously denied harming civilians and said it will hold its forces to account for any violations.
Survivors have since been moved to another hospital, and urgent appeals are being made for medical support and blood donations, Tedros said.
Reuters
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