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At least 78 people have died after a drone strike hit a mosque in Sudan.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Back in April 2023, a civil war erupted in Sudan following a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), once allied groups that had a falling out over plans to integrate the RSF into the SAF. The SAF, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, claims it is defending the country’s sovereignty and constitutional order, while the RSF, under Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, argues it is fighting to dismantle military dominance and establish civilian rule. Both sides have been widely accused of committing atrocities, including ethnic cleansing, sexual violence, and attacks on civilians. The conflict has also drawn in regional actors, with Sudan’s government recently accusing the United Arab Emirates of covertly supporting the RSF by supplying arms and hiring foreign mercenaries (the UAE has denied this). Other neighboring countries have been suspected of backing different factions to serve their own strategic interests, further fueling the instability.

What’s going on now: The drone strike that killed at least 78 people occurred during Friday morning prayers at a mosque in el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the last remaining stronghold of the Sudanese army in the region. Local medical sources reported around 20 others were injured, though the number could rise as bodies are still being pulled from the rubble. The attack has been widely blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been intensifying their attacks on el-Fasher for over a year, although the group has not officially claimed responsibility.

The strike comes amid a renewed RSF offensive aimed at capturing el-Fasher, a city that houses more than 300,000 civilians. As the RSF pushes deeper into strategic areas, fears are mounting that a full takeover is imminent. Aid access has become nearly impossible, with both sides accused of attacking humanitarian convoys and obstructing relief efforts, worsening what the UN already considers one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

It also follows warnings from the UN of increasing “ethnicisation” of the conflict, with credible reports that RSF fighters are targeting non-Arab communities in Darfur. According to a recent UN Human Rights Office report, atrocities have become more systematic, with evidence of ethnic cleansing and retaliatory violence against civilians accused of supporting the opposing side.