Bomb (Air Delivered) event in South Kordofan, Hadra area, Sudan on Thu 14th March 2024

On Thursday morning, Sudan’s air force dropped barrel bombs on a school in the Hadra area, Delami County, South Kordofan State, killing 11 children, and two teachers, and wounding another 45 people.  

According to activists in civil and human rights organisations in the region, an Antonov army plane dropped explosive barrels on Al-Hadra Primary School in an area under the control of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North (SPLM/A-N), led by SPLM-N Chairman Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu.

Repeated calls for comment from the Sudan army spokesperson were left unanswered. 

“We condemn this cowardly and barbaric attack,” says SPLM-N Spokesperson Sanaa Phillip. “If the Sudanese Armed Forces wanted to go to war with the SPLM/A-N, they know the locations of its camps and positions well. There is no reason for them to bomb a school of innocent children – what is the logic and justification behind this?”

A child as young as nine years old, Intisar Ahmed, died in the attack.

Sudan’s air force has a long history of using Antonov warplanes that use crude barrel bombs, dropped out of the back of the plane in its conflict with the SPLM/A-N in South Kordofan State. These indiscriminate attacks have been used since 2011 and routinely hit civilian targets in the past, according to residents within the SPLM-N-controlled areas of the Nuba Mountains. 

After 11 months of conflict in Sudan, primarily between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a bid for political and economic control, the residents of South Kordofan State are facing a dire humanitarian crisis. Now residents of South Kordofan State must contend with a war between three armed groups, the army, RSF, and SPLM/A-N –all taking place around them.