UN peacekeepers killed in Sudan (PHOTOS)
Six Bangladeshi peacekeepers have been killed in a drone strike on a United Nations logistics base in Sudan’s South Kordofan state, officials said on Sunday.
The attack on Saturday in Kadugli wounded eight other peacekeepers, according to UN statements. The troops served with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), a mission deployed to the disputed Abyei area along the Sudan-South Sudan border.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the incident as “horrific” and “unjustifiable,” warning that “attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law.”
The mission held a ceremony on Monday in honor of those killed.
Sudan’s army-backed government issued a statement on Saturday, accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of the strike, calling it a “flagrant breach of the protection guaranteed to UN facilities.”
The RSF, however, has rejected the accusation as “lies,” saying it reflected “a desperate and pathetic attempt to fabricate false accusations against [its] forces.”
A solemn ceremony was organized in #Abyei today in honour of six #Bangladeshi peacekeepers killed in action following a drone attack @UNISFA_1 logistics base in #Kadugli, South #Kordofan. @UNPeacekeeping@UNNewsArabic@UNinBangladesh@BDArmyOfficial@Abyeifm@RadioMirayapic.twitter.com/N5g9tNEKXs
— UNISFA - Abyei (@UNISFA_1) December 15, 2025
The incident comes as drone attacks escalate in and around Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, where violent clashes have reportedly raged between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF in a war nearing its third year.
Sudan descended into chaos in April 2023 when fighting erupted between the national army (Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This occurred after months of tension between their commanders, army generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemedti’, respectively, over a planned transition to civilian rule. What began in the capital, Khartoum, as a power struggle has devastated the country, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.
Regional and international peace efforts, including African Union mediation and Saudi–US talks in Jeddah, have repeatedly stalled. Sudanese officials have named Colombians and Ukrainians among mercenaries backing the RSF against the army. Officials have also accused Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates of involvement and recently claimed the European Union has an “incomplete understanding of the complex situation” in the country.
Khartoum has also accused authorities in neighboring Kenya of backing the RSF and has broken ties with the East African grouping IGAD amid mistrust of regional mediation. In July, TASIS, a political coalition aligned with the paramilitary, announced the formation of a rival government months after its members signed a charter in Nairobi. It named Gen. Dagalo as chairman of a 15-member presidential council, a move rejected by the UN and AU.
More than 40,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the conflict erupted amid alleged atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings, particularly in Darfur.
UN operations have faced other security incidents during the war, including the detention of more than 60 UNISFA peacekeepers and the abduction of civilian personnel during an attack and looting of a logistics convoy.
UNISFA has been deployed in the oil-rich Abyei since 2011, when South Sudan gained independence from Sudan. The territory has remained contested ever since. Nearly 4,000 military and police personnel serve with the mission, according to UN figures, tasked with supporting the delivery of humanitarian aid and protecting civilians.
On Saturday, Guterres urged the warring parties “to agree on an immediate cessation of hostilities and to resume talks to reach a lasting ceasefire and a comprehensive, inclusive and Sudanese-owned political process.”
