Drones Are Hitting Markets and Schools in Sudan. The World Has Already Forgotten.

Eleven people died when a drone hit a market in western Sudan on Thursday. Seven of the wounded were children. The strike ignited fuel reserves and sent flames tearing through Adikong, a border town near Chad where people were buying food and water.

It was the second deadly drone strike on the same market in less than a month.

And it barely made the news.

200 Dead in a Week

The world is watching Iran. In Sudan, drones are killing people at a faster rate — and almost nobody's paying attention.

Between March 4 and March 13, more than 200 civilians were killed by drone strikes across Sudan's Kordofan region and White Nile state. That's one week. Markets. Schools. Hospitals. A truck full of people trying to flee.

On March 4, a drone hit a market and hospital simultaneously in al-Muglad, killing about 50. Three days later, strikes on two more markets killed 40. On March 10, a truck carrying civilians was hit in al-Sunut — 50 dead, including women and children.

A day before the Adikong strike, drones hit a secondary school and health center in Shukeiri. Seventeen people died, including female students, teachers, and a health worker.

The UN's human rights chief called it "deeply troubling." Doctors Without Borders treated the wounded. The world moved on.

Drones Just Got Cheap Enough for Civil Wars

Twenty years ago, a U.S. military drone cost $7 million and had a 66-foot wingspan. Today, both sides in Sudan's civil war are using commercial drones you can buy for $2,000.

The Rapid Support Forces — a paramilitary group with no air force — has modified DJI drones to carry 120mm mortar shells. The Sudanese Armed Forces fly Iranian-made Mohajer-6 combat drones. Neither side needs runways, pilots, or billion-dollar budgets.

Since April 2023, there have been more than 1,000 documented drone attacks in Sudan. In the first two months of 2026 alone, 198 strikes. At least 52 caused civilian casualties, killing 478 people.

Sudan accounted for more than half of all drone attacks across the entire African continent in 2024.

This is what happens when aerial violence becomes affordable.

The Forgotten War

Sudan's civil war has created what the UN calls the world's largest humanitarian emergency. 33.7 million people need aid — the biggest such population on earth. Twelve million have been driven from their homes.

And most of the world has no idea it's happening.

The Iran war dominated headlines. In its first month, reports ranged from 1,444 to 3,117 killed, depending on the source. Sudan killed 200+ in one week — just from drones — and it barely registered outside Africa.

This isn't a coverage gap. It's a perception canyon.

When drone strikes become cheap enough for civil wars, every future conflict looks like this. Markets hit. Schools destroyed. Fuel depots ignited. And the world watching something else.

Sudan is showing us what war looks like when the tools to kill from the air cost less than a used car. The question isn't whether this will happen again.

It's how many more markets have to burn before we notice.