The city of Kalogi in Sudan’s South Kordofan is counting its dead after one of the bleakest episodes in the country’s three-year civil war. Government-aligned military officials say at least 47 people—most of them children—were killed when the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) struck a kindergarten and later returned to target civilians rushing to help. Another 50 people were injured, and officials warn the toll could rise as some victims suffered catastrophic wounds.
Thursday’s assault unfolded in waves. After hitting the kindergarten, RSF fighters reportedly bombed the city’s hospital and a government building, compounding the chaos. The Sudan Doctors Network initially confirmed nine deaths, including four children and two women, describing the assault as a series of “deliberate suicide-drone attacks” carried out with the RSF’s local ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (al-Hilou). The group called the strikes a grave breach of international humanitarian law.
The attack stands out even within a conflict marked by repeated atrocities from both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Each side has been accused of killing civilians, but the nature of Thursday’s strike—children targeted inside a learning center—has struck a particularly raw nerve.
The United Nations has been warning for weeks that the wider Kordofan region could be on the verge of mass killings similar to those that followed the fall of el-Fasher in North Darfur. UN human rights chief Volker Türk said it was “truly shocking to see history repeating itself,” noting that earlier alerts about Darfur went largely ignored until widespread killings were already under way.
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Since late October, when the RSF captured Bara in North Kordofan, the UN has documented at least 269 civilian deaths from bombardment, shelling, and summary executions. Communications blackouts across the region suggest the real number is far higher, with reports emerging of revenge attacks, sexual violence, arbitrary detentions, and the forced recruitment of children.
The RSF claims it seized the West Kordofan city of Babnusa this week, though the army denies it. With el-Fasher now under RSF control, attention has shifted to Kordofan, a strategic corridor between Darfur and government-held territory. Capturing hubs like el-Obeid could give RSF forces a direct path toward Khartoum, raising fears that the violence in Kalogi may be a grim preview of what lies ahead.