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Drone attack on Colombian army base kills three soldiers and wounds 16

Al Jazeera

A drone attack on a military base in northern Colombia has killed three soldiers and wounded at least 16, the country's armed forces said. The Colombian military said in a statement on Saturday that the attack hit a base in Santa Rosa del Sur, a small town in the foothills of the San Lucas mountain range. Authorities have not said who carried out the strike, the latest in a series of attacks on security forces as violence rises across rural parts of the country. Footage shared on social media showed clouds of smoke rising from the base after three explosions, and soldiers taking cover in shelters made of sandbags. "Those who were behind this attack will have nowhere to hide," President Abelardo de la Espriella wrote on X. "Every attack against our soldiers strengthens our resolve to defend Colombia."


Deadly RSF drone attacks reveal deep divisions between Sudan and Ethiopia

Al Jazeera

The Sudanese government's allegations that Ethiopia is behind a deadly wave of unmanned aerial assaults belie a deep and longstanding rift between the two countries, which threatens to intensify internal conflicts in both. Sudan has officially lodged complaints with the United Nations Security Council and the African Union's Peace and Security Council over allegations that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary - which has been at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023 - is using Ethiopian territory to launch attacks against civilian sites, including power stations. "The mutual accusations are many and almost daily, and the tension on the part of the Sudanese army has reached high levels, to the degree that made some voices inside the Sudanese army and the forces allied with it demand that Sudan declare war on Ethiopia based on these interventions," Al-Almin told Al Jazeera. Suspected RSF drone attacks have heavily damaged civilian infrastructure in SAF-controlled areas. More than 90 percent of power stations in Sudanese cities have been rendered out of service due to drone attacks, and al-Almin said the technological capabilities of these weapons indicate significant external backing.


Sudan files complaints against Ethiopia with UN over deadly drone spree

Al Jazeera

Sudan has lodged a complaint against Ethiopia with both the United Nations Security Council and the African Union's Peace and Security Council after a series of deadly drone attacks this year. In a statement late on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group of using Ethiopian territory to launch "brazen aggression" against "civilian sites and power stations" in Sudan, resulting in hundreds of casualties and disruptions to essential services. Sudan's military has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of aiding the RSF, which it has been fighting in a civil war since April 2023. Ethiopia, meanwhile, has accused the Sudanese military of backing rebels linked to the Tigray People's Liberation Front, a charge Khartoum denied. The ministry's statement came alongside a report from Sudan's army-led Transitional Sovereignty Council that alleged 70 assaults from February 15 to October 27 involving 187 one-way attack drones.


Strikes on Darfur market in Sudan killed more than 100, rights group says

Al Jazeera

Military drone strikes in southwestern Sudan's Darfur that killed more than 100 people - mostly women and children - earlier this week targeted a busy city market frequented by paramilitary fighters, witnesses said. Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence, put the toll from Monday's attacks at more than 100 dead and 113 wounded. The war between the RSF and the army, now in its fourth year, has created severe poverty, food shortages and the world's worst displacement crisis. A cigarette vendor told the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday that hundreds of RSF fighters gathered at the market on the evening of the attack. He said that he moved his stall between gatherings of the paramilitary fighters to sell cigarettes and that a drone struck around 8pm (18:00 GMT), killing dozens of fighters and women selling food.


Romania blames Russia after drone sinks ship in the Black Sea

Al Jazeera

Is the war entering a new phase? Romania has blamed Russia for a drone strike that sank a cargo ship off Romania's Black Sea coast, killing one crew member and leaving three others missing. It's the latest drone attack targeting commercial shipping off the coasts of NATO members Romania and Bulgaria, with at least seven cargo ships hit and 30 sailors reported killed or missing in the past two weeks, raising fears of an escalation in Russia's war against Ukraine. The shipping data website MarineTraffic showed the Khoryv departed Turkiye on Wednesday and was headed for Romania's Sulina port, which links the Danube River to the Black Sea. The canal has become the primary route for Ukrainian exporters, which rely on ports on the Danube and Romanian territorial waters, as Russia has attacked Ukraine's own Black Sea ports.


How Sudan's shift to drone warfare is fuelling a civilian crisis

Al Jazeera

How Sudan's shift to drone warfare is fuelling a civilian crisis Share How Sudan's shift to drone warfare is fuelling a civilian crisis on social media In the Imtidad Nasser neighbourhood east of Sudan's capital Khartoum, residents are grappling with a terrifying new reality of skies filled with drones. "We heard the buzz of drones in the sky, but did not pay attention to it at first," Ahmed Abdel Hamid, a resident of the area, told Al Jazeera about a recent drone attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Then, anti-aircraft fire and two huge explosions shook the area, killing three children from a family in the community. A devastating wave of drone attacks across Sudan has killed more than 160 people in recent days, marking a lethal evolution in the conflict between competing military forces which began in April 2023. A rise in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF has pushed the war deep into residential neighbourhoods, driven by shifting battlefield motives and a mutual desire to exhaust the opponent.


Drone attack in disputed Sudan-South Sudan border region kills at least 153

Al Jazeera

A drone attack on a market in Abyei, a border region disputed by South Sudan and Sudan, has killed at least 153 people, according to a South Sudanese official. The Abyei administration's caretaker minister of information on Tuesday blamed the attack, which took place a day earlier on Amiet Market, north of Abyei town, on Sudan's military. He told the news agency Reuters that the "situation is terrible", adding that some bodies had been burned to ashes. Blaming the Sudanese military for the attack, South Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said drones hit several locations in the market. It said it has summoned Sudan's ambassador and called for its northern neighbour to "refrain" from acts that endanger civilian lives and property.


NATO to send additional patrol planes to Black Sea after drone attacks

Al Jazeera

Is the war entering a new phase? NATO is deploying additional patrol aircraft and intelligence personnel to the Black Sea, a spokesman for the alliance said, after a series of deadly drone attacks in the region widely blamed on Russia but denied by the Kremlin. "Allies have or will send additional maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, explosive exploitation teams, intelligence personnel, drones and more to the Black Sea," said Colonel Martin O'Donnell on Tuesday. NATO, along with Bulgaria and Romania, has not directly attributed the recent spate of attacks to any country. Military analysts have said Russia almost certainly carried out the attacks but Moscow has not acknowledged any responsibility.


Zelenskyy to hold talks on Russia-Ukraine war with Witkoff, Europeans

Al Jazeera

Is the war entering a new phase? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to hold talks with United States special envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders in Norway, aimed at ending the war with Russia. The prime ministers of Norway and Finland will attend the talks in Oslo on Tuesday, while President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is expected to attend remotely because of illness. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Zelenskyy requested that Witkoff and Kushner participate in Tuesday's discussions. In a post on X before the talks, Zelenskyy said he had engaged in a "substantive conversation" with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about missile interceptors, intelligence sharing and Starlink, a satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX.


160 people reported killed in escalating drone attacks across Sudan

Al Jazeera

A wave of drone attacks across Sudan has killed more than 160 people in recent days, according to medics and rights groups. D rone attacks on Khartoum killed three children on Monday, according to Emergency Lawyers, a group that monitors violence against civilians in Sudan's civil war, while more than 160 were reported to have been killed in western regions since Friday. The deadliest recent attack was near a market on Sunday evening in Al-Dibab town in the southwestern state of West Kordofan, which is controlled by the RSF. Residents and medical workers said a drone attacked a transport hub where villagers had gathered after a market day to find rides home, killing 80 people. Another 47 wounded people were taken to the nearby town of Al-Mujlad, where 30 later died from their injuries, a medical source said, according to the AFP news agency.