Drone warfare kills over 1,000 in Sudan in 2026 as strikes multiply: UN

More than 1,000 civilians in Sudan have been killed in drone strikes in the first five months of 2026, according to the United Nations. The death toll is due to a "sharp" increase in the use of drone warfare in the country's vicious civil war, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Volker Turk said in a speech on Monday. On top of documenting more than 1,000 civilians being killed in the first five months of this year, the UN office also reported "rampant" levels of sexual violence, including rape. The war in the African nation started in April 2023 when a rivalry between Sudan's army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo, exploded into war. The conflict, which had first started in the capital Khartoum, soon spread to several areas of the country.