Authorities in Abyei have raised the reported death toll from Monday’s drone attack on Amiet Market to 220, hours after the territory’s information minister confirmed at least 153 deaths to international news organisations. The higher figure, published by regional outlets on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, has not yet been independently verified.
The strike hit the market north of Abyei town at about midday on Monday and ignited a fire around an area where fuel was stored and sold. Emergency workers continued searching the site into Tuesday, while officials warned that the number of casualties could change as recovery work proceeded.
Yohana Akol Ngor, caretaker information minister for the Abyei administration, had earlier confirmed 153 deaths in separate accounts to Reuters and the Associated Press. Initial official reports had put the toll at 73. Regional reports later quoted local authorities as saying that 220 bodies had been recovered.
More than 20 injured people were taken to Ameth Bek Hospital, where Médecins Sans Frontières teams worked alongside staff from South Sudan’s Ministry of Health. MSF said some patients had burns and critical injuries and were receiving surgery, wound care and other emergency treatment.
Local officials blamed Sudan’s military for the attack. They did not provide publicly available evidence establishing responsibility, and the Sudanese armed forces had not responded to requests for comment at the time of reporting. The motive for the strike also remained unclear.
Three diplomatic sources, an aid worker and a specialist on the Sudan conflict told Reuters that the strike hit a fuel depot in the market. Diplomatic sources said the site had previously been used to supply the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, but the Abyei administration denied that the RSF was present in the territory. Neither claim could be independently verified.
Ngor said about 8,000 people had been displaced by the attack. Fires at the market complicated the retrieval of bodies and added pressure to local health facilities in an area where medical supplies and hospital capacity are limited.
South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said drones had struck a market north of Abyei town and summoned Sudan’s ambassador in protest. Juba has said it is not taking sides in the war between Sudan’s armed forces and the RSF. The ministry called for the dispute to be addressed through peaceful and diplomatic means.
Abyei has remained contested since South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011. The oil-producing territory is claimed by both countries and is administered under temporary arrangements that have failed to settle its final status.
The unresolved dispute has repeatedly exposed civilians to violence. Political disagreements over administration and borders have been compounded by tensions involving the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya communities, armed groups and the movement of fighters and supplies through the region.
The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei warned in May that the presence of RSF personnel had increased insecurity and endangered civilians and peacekeepers. The mission has continued to operate while Sudan and South Sudan remain unable to agree on a permanent settlement for the territory.
Monday’s attack also showed how Sudan’s civil war is affecting neighbouring and disputed areas. The conflict began in April 2023 as a power struggle between the Sudanese armed forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Both sides have increasingly used drones as the war has spread beyond Khartoum into Darfur, Kordofan and other parts of Sudan. Civilian areas, markets, transport points and public infrastructure have repeatedly been hit, while each side has accused the other of responsibility for attacks that caused mass casualties.
Separate drone strikes in West Kordofan over the weekend killed dozens of people, according to witnesses and medical sources. Other recent attacks have hit areas near Sudan’s borders with Chad and Egypt, increasing concern that the conflict is crossing national boundaries and destabilising already vulnerable communities.
MSF called for civilians and essential services to be protected. Its teams remained involved in emergency care at Ameth Bek Hospital as casualty recovery continued at the market.
The confirmed minimum of 153 makes the Amiet Market strike one of the deadliest single attacks associated with Sudan’s current war. The later figure of 220 remains an official local count awaiting independent corroboration.
Image: Nicolay Sidorov, based on Sting’s Africa location map; correction by Illegitimate Barrister. Source. Licence. Location map created in 2011, corrected 2017. Historical geographic reference, not a map of strike positions or a determination of sovereignty. Display versions may be resized or cropped.
