At least 72 gold miners killed in air strikes along Sudan-Egypt border

Air strikes target border gold mines

At least 72 artisanal gold miners have been killed in air strikes along the border region between Sudan and Egypt, according to Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers.

Aircraft fired more than five missiles at around 06:00 local time on Saturday, hitting temporary shelters and excavation pits while workers were inside. The Khartoum-based legal group warned that the death toll remains provisional and is likely to rise as search efforts continue across the remote mining camps.

Neither the Egyptian military nor Sudan's armed forces have commented on the strike.

Border security tensions and illicit gold

The attack underscores mounting security friction along the porous northern border, where informal gold mining has expanded dramatically since civil war erupted in Sudan in April 2023. Civilians relying on basic tools have turned to prospecting in isolated regions, but authorities in Cairo have repeatedly raised concerns over cross-border smuggling and armed insurgent financing.

Egyptian border forces launched a sweeping military operation along the frontier in June to halt unauthorized mining, drug trafficking, and illegal crossings. During that campaign, Egyptian border guards reported seizing 86 tonnes of gold ore alongside prospecting machinery.

Saturday's strikes follow previous allegations in June that drone and artillery fire had targeted informal mining camps in the same territory. Emergency Lawyers stated that targeting unarmed civilians violates international humanitarian law and warned the actions could amount to war crimes.

Paramilitary violence in North Kordofan

Civilian casualties also mounted in central Sudan, where paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed four members of a single family in North Kordofan state, Emergency Lawyers reported.

Troops attempted to loot a residential home in Al Mazroub earlier in the week. After family members resisted, RSF fighters returned the following day and shot four relatives dead.

The killings follow an earlier assault in Umm Badr, where the Sudan Doctors Network reported that RSF forces killed 25 civilians on 3 October. Clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF across North, South, and West Kordofan have intensified in recent weeks, adding to a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 13 million people nationwide.