KHARTOUM — A drone strike by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) hit a kindergarten in south-central Sudan, killing 50 people — including 33 children — a doctors’ group said Saturday, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since the war began more than two years ago.

The Sudan Doctors’ Network said paramedics responding to the scene in the town of Kalogi in South Kordofan were then targeted in “a second unexpected attack.”

Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence against civilians, said a third civilian site near the first two locations was also struck.

Both groups blamed the RSF, calling the attacks a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children, and vital civilian infrastructure.”

They warned the death toll is expected to rise due to communication blackouts that have made it difficult to assess casualties.

Thursday’s attack is the latest escalation in the fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese military, now concentrated in the oil-rich Kordofan states.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed across Kordofan in recent weeks as clashes intensified after the RSF seized the besieged city of el-Fasher.

UNICEF Representative for Sudan Sheldon Yett condemned the attack, saying killing children in their school “is a horrific violation of children’s rights.”

The RSF’s capture of el-Fasher was marked by reports of executions, rapes, sexual violence and other abuses. Thousands fled, and many more remain feared killed or trapped.

The RSF and Sudanese military have been battling for control of Sudan since 2023. More than 40,000 people have been killed and 12 million displaced, according to the World Health Organization, though aid groups say the true toll is likely far higher. — Agencies