Sudan's air force has carried out bombings in which at least 1,700 civilians have died in attacks on residential neighbourhoods, markets, schools and camps for displaced people, according to an investigation into air raids in the country's civil war. The Sudan Witness Project says it has compiled the largest known dataset of military airstrikes in the conflict, which began in April 2023. Its analysis indicates that the air force has used unguided bombs in populated areas. The data focuses on attacks by warplanes, which only the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is capable of operating. Its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) does not have aircraft. It launches drone strikes, but drones were excluded from the research. The RSF has been internationally condemned for allegedly carrying out ethnic massacres in Sudan's western Darfur region, triggering charges of genocide by the United States. "The RSF are being held responsible for a lot of damage and violations, and I think rightly so," says Mark Snoeck, who ran the project. "But I think the SAF should also be held accountable for their actions." The military has also faced international criticism, accused of indiscriminate bombings. The SAF did not respond to a BBC request for comment. But it has previously denied allegations of targeting civilians, saying its airstrikes are "directed solely at RSF gatherings, locations and bases recognized as legitimate military targets". Sudan Witness is an initiative by the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), a non-profit group which works to expose human rights violations. It received funding from the British foreign ministry for this project. According to an advance copy of the report obtained by the BBC, Sudan Witness analysed 384 airstrikes conducted between April 2023 and July 2025. More than 1,700 civilians were reported killed and 1,120 injured in the incidents it documented. The group says these are conservative figures as it takes the lowest reported number. There were 135 cases involving residential areas, with verified destruction to homes and civilian infrastructure. In 35 instances the bombs struck markets and commercial facilities, often when they were crowded with people. And 19 strikes affected vulnerable groups in places like health facilities, sites housing displaced people and educational institutions. Sudan Witness acknowledges that its research is incomplete because the results reflect access to data rather than the total number of strikes. It's hard to get information from conflict zones due to poor telecommunications and the difficulty of identifying credible sources, it says, and strikes on military targets are likely to be underreported. But it says through a rigorous methodology, it has been able to build a wider picture of the military's air campaigns, visualising the information in an interactive map that shows the scale and impact on civilian populations. "For us to say that the Sudanese Armed Forces conducted an airstrike on a certain location at a certain time would more or less require that the SAF be caught in the act in footage that can be verified," says Mr Snoeck. "And this would be a very high threshold, because footage like that is very exceptional in Sudan. So what we therefore have done is analysed hundreds of airstrikes claims to paint the bigger picture." The main patterns that emerge are repeated hits on residential neighbourhoods and markets, says Mr Snoeck, as well as a large number of alleged strikes on essential humanitarian and medical facilities. "I think these patterns strongly suggest that the SAF isn't doing enough to avoid civilian casualties," he said. Justin Lynch, managing director at Conflict Insights Group which tracks foreign weapons supplies to Sudan, told the BBC that Sudanese civilians were bearing the brunt of the battles between the army and the RSF. "Sudan's conflict is really a war against civilians," he told the BBC. "Air power and other heavy weapons disproportionately target civilian, more than military, sites." Sudan Witness calculates the credibility level of a reported airstrike based on publicly available digital information known as open source. It assesses the reliability of the source, ability to analyse the location through videos posted to social media, and available satellite imagery. Some of the incidents examined by Sudan Witness could be based only on reports. Where it was able to find corroborating evidence, it confirmed the attacks with a low-to-medium degree of certainty. But the group highlights cases where munitions, impact craters or shrapnel damage are identified. In one such instance Sudan Witness confirmed multiple videos and images showing a crater with an undetonated air-dropped bomb in the Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur. It appeared to match the SH-250 unguided munition produced by Military Industry Corporation, a Sudanese arms manufacturer. "This is still one of the most troubling findings I've worked on," says Mr Snoeck. "Why drop an unguided bomb on a camp for internally displaced people? This area wasn't even under RSF control at the time, and the logic behind that strike still puzzles me." In another strike, Sudan Witness verified a rare video that captured the moment of impact, with the roar of an aircraft followed by multiple explosions as civilians took cover. At least 30 people were killed and 100 injured in the bombing of the Hamrat al-Sheikh Market in North Kordofan state, according to reports. Many of the air attacks attributed to the SAF have taken place in Darfur, which is controlled by the RSF. They include an August 2024 strike on a hospital in el-Daein, the historic capital of the Rizeigat people to which the majority of RSF forces belong. Sudan Witness verified footage that showed shrapnel damage to the building. The World Health Organisation and UN children's charity Unicef reported 16 civilians were killed, including three children and one healthcare worker. Even a rebel group allied to the army criticised this strike. The Sudan Tribune, an independent online news portal, quoted a spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement, who said citizens were surprised by the indiscriminate airstrikes targeting hospitals and homes. The city of Nyala in South Darfur state is a frequent target. Its airport is alleged to be the main entry point for RSF weapons, including sophisticated drones, delivered by the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi denies evidence that it is supporting the RSF. The SAF says it is targeting military supplies in the city. But, according to the Sudan War Monitor, a group of researchers who track the conflict, it lacks precision weapons to accurately hit them in such a crowded setting. Sudan Witness analysed a series of air strikes in the city centre carried out in February this year, also documented by Human Rights Watch. They hit residential neighbourhoods and a grocery store near an eye hospital, killing at least 63 people. The group says the strikes on busy marketplaces and commercial hubs not only kill civilians but also disrupt economic stability and aggravate the humanitarian crisis. In October last year at least 65 people were reported killed and 200 injured in a bombing that destroyed the al-Kuma market in North Darfur. Sudan Witness verified the location of footage of the destroyed market and corroborated it with satellite imagery showing new burn scars over the area. Al-Kuma is located some 80km (50 miles) north-east of el-Fasher, until recently the focus of a fierce battle, and has been caught in the crossfire of SAF air assaults on the RSF. "It is impossible for a country's army to bomb people with its air force and claim that it is doing so to protect the country," a local official told Dabanga, an independent Sudanese broadcaster. Another local source said the town had suffered more than 30 air raids since the beginning of the war. "This evidence of military airstrikes hitting marketplaces and other civilian areas, shows a clear and unacceptable disregard for the safety of innocent Sudanese civilians," said a British foreign office official. "Whatever side of the conflict they are on, the perpetrators of these heinous crimes must be held accountable." The Sudan Witness Project has continued monitoring air raids beyond July 2025 but says there has been a shift towards drone strikes by both parties in recent months. The devastating cycle of aerial warfare sometimes targets groups seen as supporting the other side, says the Sudan War Monitor, highlighting an alleged SAF drone attack on al-Kuma in October, this time hitting a social gathering at the home of a local religious leader. Al-Kuma is predominantly inhabited by the Ziyadiya, one of the Arab nomadic groups that form the social and ethnic backbone of the RSF. That same weekend the RSF launched drone and artillery attacks on el-Fasher, striking a religious displacement centre and reportedly killing at least 60 civilians. El-Fasher is dominated by non-Arab groups such as the Zaghawa, which RSF fighters associated with Zaghawa armed groups defending the city. "Neither side utilises drones and their airpower to primarily target military locations — they are either indiscriminate or designed to terrorise civilian populations under each other's control, which are war crimes," says Mr Lynch from Conflict Insights Group. The SAF says the RSF seeks refuge within residential neighbourhoods and insists it is strictly observing international humanitarian laws and rules of engagement, including protection of civilians and their properties. Both sides in Sudan's war have been accused of war crimes. This week the RSF and its ally the Sudan Liberation Movement-North was accused of drone strikes that hit a kindergarten and a hospital in the South Kordofan town of Kalogi. The WHO said 114 people were killed, including 63 children. Mr Lynch says not only are civilians suffering, neither side is achieving military success in the air war. "SAF have used aerial operations to support the takeover of Khartoum, but with that exception their use of airstrikes has resulted in a lot of civilian death and not a lot of military success," he said. "Similarly, the RSF use foreign mercenaries backed by the UAE to fly drones, but with a few exceptions it hasn't actually achieved results." You can access the Sudan Witness report here when it is published on 10 December. Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
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