Soudan: Qui et pourquoi attaquer un hôpital ?

Though Sudan is a country at war, Ed-Daein itself is far from any active frontlines. It is the capital of East Darfur, the least conflict-affected of Sudan’s five Darfur states. Occasional bombings have hit the city, but Ed Daein hasn’t suffered any ground fighting since 2023.

At the Ed Daein Teaching Hospital, Dr. Anas Saleh Al-Tom was working the holiday shift. “The hospital was crowded with patients, visitors, children, and women,” he recalled. Dozens of family members had come to visit patients, so that they would not pass the holiday alone. Visiting the sick during Eid is strongly encouraged culturally and religiously.

It was about two hours after the Iftar meal. Revelers still filled the streets and sat at coffee shops near the hospital, sipping tea and coffee. Dr. Al-Tom remembers exactly where he was standing when the celebrations turned suddenly into mourning: “I was following up for one of the patients at the blood bank. That’s where I was specifically when the hospital was targeted.”

The explosion plunged the hospital into darkness and knocked over the young physician. As he came to his senses, he found himself surrounded by debris, bodies, smoke, and injured patients.

Though wounded in his back, shoulders, and chest, he joined other rescue workers in evacuating the wounded and survivors. “While we were still working, we were targeted again. The entire building was destroyed: the pharmacy, the lab, the emergency room — all of it.”

Some of the patients he had been caring for before the blast were killed.

According to the Director-General of the State Ministry of Health, Al-Azraq Hassan Hamida, at least two missiles hit the hospital about 20 minutes apart. “The first bomb struck at approximately 8:40 p.m., the second at around 9:00 p.m.,” he said at a news conference outside the ruined hospital. This type of attack is known as a “double tap.” It seeks to increase casualties by not only targeting a site but also hitting the first responders.

Thirteen children were among the 70 people killed in the attack, along with two nurses, a doctor, and five other health workers. More than 100 others were injured, according to the World Health Organization.

The images also showed significant debris on the road in front of the hospital. This is consistent with witness accounts that bystanders and patrons of coffee shops adjacent to the hospital were among the victims, in addition to the patients and caregivers killed inside. Ali Mohamed Issa, a volunteer emergency worker, told Darfur 24 that one missile targeted the hospital’s northern gate, an area typically bustling with cafes.

The Sudanese Air Force operates long-range Bayraktar Akinci drones that are capable of carrying such an attack. They carry laser-guided munitions such as the Roketsn MAM-L (22 kg) and MAM-T (95 kg), which are capable of penetrating a roof with a fuze delay and detonating on the interior.

Sudan War Monitor has previously verified operations by this type of drone in Darfur, including in neighboring South Darfur State, where the RSF shot down one of the unmanned bombers in January 2026. Since 2023, the Sudanese Air Force has conducted hundreds of aerial attacks throughout Darfur. Anti-aircraft fire brought down many of SAF’s manned warplanes in 2023-2024, after which it shifted increasingly to using unmanned aircraft.

Before the smoke had cleared from Ed-Daien Hospital, even as rescuers were still searching through the rubble, cheers erupted in the ranks of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

Within an hour of the hospital attack, pro-army ‘milbloggers’ — including users likely connected to the SAF and its paid influencer networks — began reporting that SAF had conducted aerial attacks in Ed Daien against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the rebel group that controls the city. These early claims of responsibility, posted across social media networks including Whatsapp, X, Telegram, and Tiktok, came before media coverage of the event, and before videos of the damage and victims had circulated.