Five killed including child in South Kordofan shelling: Medics

The Sudanese Doctors Network said on Friday that artillery shelling by an armed faction aligned with the Rapid Support Forces killed five people — including a child — in the contested city of Dilling in Sudan’s South Kordofan state, targeting civilian neighborhoods in the southern and western districts.

The medical group accused the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu and aligned with the Rapid Support Forces, of conducting the morning assault on civilian facilities, describing the incident as “a clear violation of international norms prohibiting attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure,” according to a statement posted on the social media platform X. Additional casualties were reported among the injured, though specific figures were not immediately confirmed by hospital officials.

Parallel authority formation

The SPLM-N faction under al-Hilu controls significant territory in the Nuba Mountains and formalized its alliance with the RSF in February 2025 by signing a charter in Nairobi to establish a parallel governing authority. The coalition announced a presidential council three months later, appointing RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — known as Hemedti — as head of the parallel administration with al-Hilu serving as his deputy.

Siege and ongoing clashes

Dilling, the second-largest city in South Kordofan, endured a near-two-year siege by RSF and SPLM-N forces before the Sudanese army reopened supply routes on January 26 following a coordinated military operation. Despite the formal lifting of the blockade, the city has faced persistent artillery barrages and drone attacks amid renewed clashes between government troops and the allied paramilitary factions.

South Kordofan has emerged as a major front in the conflict, which erupted on April 15, 2023, when tensions between the Sudanese army and the RSF over the paramilitary group’s integration into the armed forces escalated into open warfare across multiple regions. The fighting has displaced millions and triggered a severe humanitarian crisis in Africa’s third-largest country.