Sudan’s South Kordofan Hit by Rebel Shelling, Killing Five Including a Child

Sudan Doctors Network says SPLM-N forces shelled residential areas in Dilling, hours after attacks near Kauda killed at least 21.

Published On 5 Sep 20265 Sep 2026

A medical organization reports that at least five people, including a child, have been killed and several others injured after a Sudanese rebel group targeted residential areas in South Kordofan province.

In a statement released on Friday, the Sudan Doctors Network accused the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) of carrying out the artillery assault in the town of Dilling.

The organization stated that the heavy bombardment of civilian areas constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law, resulting in civilian casualties and severely exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation.

“The Sudan Doctors Network urges the international community to take immediate action to halt these violations and apply meaningful pressure on the SPLM-N leadership (al-Hilu Faction) to cease attacks on civilians and residential areas,” the statement read.

The SPLM-N is a breakaway faction of the SPLM, the governing party of neighboring South Sudan. Its leader, Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, has aligned his fighters with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and joined the RSF-led parallel government in Sudan.

Previous violence

In a separate statement issued just hours earlier, the medical group reported that SPLM-N forces attacked the areas of Debi and Luweri near the town of Kauda on Thursday, killing more than 21 people, including women and children.

The network stated that those attacks specifically targeted the Otoro tribe, a minority group in the Nuba Mountains.

These killings follow clashes earlier this year driven by land disputes, adding another layer of ethnic friction to the country’s wider civil war between the Sudanese army and the RSF.

The recent fighting erupted despite a ceasefire initiative backed by the RSF last month. Al-Hilu did not commit to the agreement, and his forces launched attacks on at least 10 Otoro villages, displacing thousands of civilians between August 20 and 26.

UN warning

The escalation coincides with broader warnings from a United Nations-backed independent fact-finding mission, which reported on Thursday that foreign involvement, including external supply networks, foreign personnel, and military drones, is driving the conflict and worsening violence against civilians nationwide.

Since the conflict between the Sudanese military and the RSF erupted in April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced approximately 13 million, and pushed parts of the country into famine.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 34 million people, roughly two-thirds of Sudan’s population, now require urgent humanitarian assistance.

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