World

More than 70 Sudanese artisanal miners killed in strike

By AAP Newswire

Oct 12, 2026

A gold nugget. — Artisanal mining has surged in northern Sudan, with gold the key cash source for warring parties. -AP

At least 72 artisanal miners have been killed in ‌an air strike in northern Sudan, according to rights monitor Emergency Lawyers, in the second such incident in recent months.

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Emergency Lawyers ‌blamed the Egyptian air force for the strike on Saturday, a claim Reuters could not immediately verify.

The Egyptian military did not comment on the incident and Egypt's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a ‌request for comment.

Images ‌shared ⁠on social media and by local rights groups but not verified by Reuters show dozens of bodies strewn in rubble and others wrapped in funeral shrouds, and miners describing an air strike on the area.

Emergency Lawyers on Sunday said such a cross-border attack would violate international ⁠law.

Northern Sudan has had an ‌influx of artisanal miners and makeshift gold mines as the country's ongoing conflict disrupted other ‌sources of livelihoods and gold became the key cash source for warring parties.

Experts and those in the sector say much of that gold is smuggled into Egypt.

The war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has increased mass-casualty events, particularly as drone warfare becomes the primary mode of fighting.

On Friday, some 31 people were killed in a drone strike on a displacement camp in an army-controlled area of Sudan's Blue Nile state, one of the war's frontlines, according to ⁠the United Nations.