Real Madrid's Vinícius Jr sends surprise message to boy who lost his legs in Sudan's war To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Figure caption, Watch: Vinícius Jr's surprise message to boy who received prosthetic legs after Sudan drone strike In a dark room in Cairo, a 13-year-old boy looks up at a television screen, barely blinking. The screen flickers and Real Madrid's superstar winger Vinícius Júnior appears addressing the young boy directly, in Arabic: Zaher, mahaba - Hello Zaher. Zaher barely moves, his eyes wide, locked on his favourite footballer. We first met Zaher a year ago in the ruins of Sudan's capital, Khartoum.

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.

Drone attacks extend campaign targeting Sudan's power system Share Drone attacks extend campaign targeting Sudan's power system on social media Drone strikes are reported to have hit three electricity substations in eastern and northern Sudan, the latest attacks in a concentrated campaign. The attacks on Monday, which caused widespread power outages across parts of the country, brought the number of strikes reported to target Sudan's electricity network to 18 over the past week. Facilities in New Halfa and Aroma in eastern Kassala state were hit early on Monday, while the al-Ghazali substation in Sudan's Northern State was also targeted, according to local media. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show fires at the facilities, with civil defence teams trying to extinguish the fires. Al Jazeera was not able to immediately verify the footage and reports.

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.

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.

Drone strike kills at least 21 and injures 40 in Sudan's Nyala Share Drone strike kills at least 21 and injures 40 in Sudan's Nyala on social media At least 21 people have been killed and 40 others were wounded in a drone strike in Nyala, Darfur, the AFP news agency reported, citing a medical source and witnesses. A Nyala resident said that the attack took place at around 8pm (18:00 GMT) on Monday at a market in the north of the city - which serves as the de facto capital of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Another Nyala resident told AFP that the market was frequented by armed men, particularly RSF fighters. The Sudanese military, which has been at war with the RSF since April 2023, regularly strikes Nyala, where the RSF has declared an administration rivalling the military-backed, internationally recognised government in Khartoum.

Will Gulf states join war? Sudan's soaring fuel prices make getting by harder for workers Share Sudan's soaring fuel prices make getting by harder for workers on social media Azhari Mohamed drives his minibus and eight passengers seven times a day from the Shagar neighbourhood in the Port of Sudan to the city centre and back again. But despite the long hours - working from 6am to 9pm - fuel shortages in the city have made it difficult for the 60-year-old to make a living. With fuel increasingly difficult to obtain, he now spends two days on the road and a third day queuing for fuel. He can spend more than five hours waiting in line when he needs to fill the tank of his minibus and often finds petrol has run out before his turn comes.

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.

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.

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.