The World Health Organization has confirmed that 114 people, including 63 children, were killed in drone attacks on a kindergarten and hospital in South Kordofan, Sudan, marking one of the deadliest incidents in the country’s ongoing civil war.
The attacks occurred on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in the town of Kalogi, a government-held area in South Kordofan state. According to local official Essam al-Din al-Sayed, head of the Kalogi administrative unit, the assault began with strikes on a kindergarten before expanding to nearby medical facilities. The hospital was struck at least three times as emergency responders attempted to evacuate wounded children.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the attacks as “senseless” in a statement posted on social media Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. The WHO’s Attacks on Health Care monitoring system recorded 35 additional injuries from the incident. Initial reports had indicated at least 50 dead, including 33 children, but the toll rose as authorities compiled casualty figures from multiple strike locations.
“Disturbingly, paramedics and responders came under attack as they tried to move the injured from the kindergarten to the hospital,” Tedros stated. He called for an immediate end to the violence and increased access to humanitarian aid, including health services.
Survivors from the attacks were transported to Abu Jebaiha Hospital in South Kordofan for treatment. Health officials have issued urgent appeals for blood donations and medical supplies to support the overwhelmed facility treating the wounded.
Both Sudan’s Foreign Ministry and the Sudan Doctors Network blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for conducting the drone strikes. The RSF, which has been engaged in a brutal civil war with Sudan’s army since April 2023, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The group has previously denied harming civilians, though WHO leadership accused them of killing hundreds at a hospital in the Darfur city of el-Fasher in October.
The violence in South Kordofan comes as fighting intensifies across the region, which sits between Sudan’s capital Khartoum and Darfur. The area has become a critical frontline as government forces push toward Darfur, currently under RSF control. The provinces of North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan together have a population of almost eight million people.
In a separate development, the Rapid Support Forces claimed control of the Heglig oil field near Sudan’s southern border. The RSF described the capture as a pivotal moment in the conflict. An army source confirmed that government troops had withdrawn from the area to protect oil infrastructure and prevent damage to the facilities.
The Heglig site houses the main processing facility for South Sudanese oil, which constitutes a major portion of South Sudan’s government revenue. Oil from the field is transported through the Greater Nile pipeline system to Port Sudan on the Red Sea for export, making it essential for Sudan’s hard-currency earnings. According to sources at the oil field, both army personnel and oil workers withdrew into South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
The civil war that erupted in April 2023 began as a power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese army, former allies who turned against each other. The conflict has devastated the nation, creating widespread humanitarian crises and displacing millions of civilians. Health facilities have repeatedly come under attack, hampering efforts to provide medical care to affected populations.
The WHO deplored the attacks on civilians and health facilities, emphasizing that such strikes violate international humanitarian law. Without directly assigning blame for the Kalogi incident, Tedros called for an immediate ceasefire, posting on social media that Sudanese citizens “have suffered far too much.”
The Kalogi attack represents one of the highest single-day death tolls involving children since the war began. The targeting of a kindergarten, followed by strikes on medical personnel attempting rescues, has drawn international condemnation and renewed calls for accountability in Sudan’s conflict.
As the war continues with no resolution in sight, humanitarian organizations struggle to access affected areas and provide essential services. The WHO’s repeated documentation of attacks on healthcare facilities underscores the systematic challenges facing medical workers and patients in conflict zones throughout Sudan.
The international community has largely failed to broker a lasting ceasefire between the warring parties, leaving civilians caught in the crossfire as both sides compete for territorial control and strategic resources across the country.