OMM Redaksiyası
At least 72 artisanal miners were killed in an airstrike in northern Sudan on Saturday, rights monitor Emergency Lawyers said on Sunday, according to Reuters. The incident was the second of its kind in several months.
Emergency Lawyers blamed the Egyptian air force, a claim Reuters said it could not immediately verify. Egypt’s military did not comment, while the country’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Images shared on social media and by local rights groups, but not verified by Reuters, showed bodies among rubble and others wrapped in funeral shrouds. Miners were also shown describing an airstrike in the area.
Emergency Lawyers said a cross-border attack of this kind would violate international law.
Northern Sudan has seen an influx of artisanal miners and makeshift gold mines as the conflict has disrupted other sources of livelihood. Gold has become a key source of cash for both sides in the war, and experts and people in the sector say much of it is smuggled into Egypt.
The war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has brought more frequent mass-casualty incidents, particularly as drone warfare becomes the primary mode of fighting.
On Friday, about 31 people were killed in a drone strike on a displacement camp in an army-controlled area of Blue Nile state, one of the war’s frontlines, the United Nations said.
