An airstrike has destroyed two World Food Programme trucks carrying more than 50 metric tons of food assistance in Sudan’s South Kordofan state, wiping out supplies sufficient to support around 5,800 people for a month, the UN agency said Wednesday.
The trucks were struck outside Dilling on August 30 while travelling towards Kadugli, the state capital. The WFP said both vehicles were clearly identified with its signs and flags.
“The United Nations World Food Programme strongly condemns the aerial attack that hit two trucks carrying WFP food assistance,” the agency said.
The destroyed cargo included cereals, yellow split peas, vegetable oil and salt. The WFP did not attribute responsibility for the attack.
The loss comes amid severe food insecurity in the region, where the agency says it is providing in-kind food assistance to nearly 58,000 people facing emergency levels of hunger or worse.
Humanitarian operations have themselves increasingly come under attack. The WFP said it had recorded eight aerial attacks since the beginning of the year that damaged its facilities or disrupted its operations.
The agency urged all sides in Sudan’s conflict to comply with international humanitarian law and protect civilians, aid workers and humanitarian supplies.
The strike followed another reported attack in Dilling a day earlier. The Sudan Doctors Network said three people were killed and others wounded when a drone struck a market on August 29, blaming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for that attack.
The United Nations said last month that 1,100 civilians had been killed in drone attacks across Sudan between January and June.
Fighting has intensified across North, West and South Kordofan since October 25, further complicating humanitarian access to communities already facing acute shortages of food and other essential supplies.
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict between the army and the RSF since April 2023. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, while around 13 million have been displaced, according to UN and international estimates.