At least 72 people were killed and more than 50 injured in air strikes on a gold mining site near Sudan's border with Egypt, according to a human rights group. The death toll is expected to rise.
The Sudan-based Emergency Lawyers, a human rights and legal advocacy organization, said the attack occurred on Saturday in rugged and mountainous territory south of the remote Halayeb triangle, east of the River Nile. The group said the area lies within Sudan.
The Halayeb triangle is claimed by both Egypt and Sudan and is known for mining, the gold trade, illicit goods, and human trafficking.
Emergency Lawyers accused the Egyptian air force of carrying out the strikes. "The repeated attacks on the gold- and mineral-rich border regions reflect a desire by Egyptian authorities to expand and assert control over Sudan's natural resources," the group said.
Egypt has not commented on the latest strikes. It has previously acknowledged conducting a "large-scale operation" against illegal gold mining within its borders. Independent verification of the attack remains difficult due to the remote location.
The Sudan Doctors Network warned that the casualty figure was expected to increase "due to the severity of some injuries and the difficulties in accessing medical care and essential services in the region."
One survivor said there were thousands of people working at the site when it was struck. "After the air strike, people scattered. Some people came to Al-Ansary [gold] market, others went in the other direction. That's why no one knows exactly how many were killed," he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the strikes.
The attack is described as the second of its kind this year in the same border area. In June, air strikes on mining sites in the region were followed by a large-scale Egyptian security operation in which hundreds of people, including foreigners, were arrested on charges of illegal gold mining and smuggling.
The strikes come amid Sudan's ongoing civil war between the military, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict, now in its fourth year, has killed more than 200,000 people and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, displacing more than 14 million people.
Gold has played a central role in financing the war. The RSF has funded its operations by smuggling large quantities of gold from Sudan's Darfur and Kordofan regions. According to a UK-based think tank, as much as 60 percent of unofficial gold exports from Sudan end up in Egypt.
Egypt, which backs Sudan's army chief, considers the conflict on its border a threat to national security. The strikes have drawn renewed attention to growing Egyptian concern over large-scale displacement and cross-border movement driven by the war.
Separately, a drone attack attributed to the RSF killed 41 people in Sudan's Blue Nile region, bordering Ethiopia, according to Emergency Lawyers. The strike targeted a camp for displaced people in the Abu Shandi area on Friday.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it was "appalled by horrifying reports" of the attack. Initial reports indicated that most of the casualties were women and children.
The UN agency said the area had been "under sustained attack in recent weeks, displacing thousands of civilians and exposing many more to grave harm."
Both the Sudanese army and the RSF have been accused of using drone attacks throughout the conflict.
