On 13 December 2025, Saturday, a drone attack targeting a UN logistics base in Kadugli, South Kordofan State, in Sudan, killed 6 and injured 8 Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers serving in the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the strike as horrific and said it may constitute war crimes. The interim government of Bangladesh regarded it as a terrorist act and demanded emergency support for the wounded. The Sudanese Armed Forces blamed the attack on Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which was later denied by RSF in a statement on Telegram. As per the Sudanese Army, a single drone launched three missiles targeting the Bangladesh battalion and set ablaze the UN warehouse. Kadugli serves as a support and logistics base for the UNISFA in Abyei, located around 216 km to the northeast. [UN News, France24, Darfur 24, UNISFA]
What happened?
It is generally understood that in the afternoon, at around 3:40 PM local time, an armed drone suddenly released three guided missiles. The targets were storage and staging facilities inside the garrison, which resulted in sustained flames. The strike also resulted in the deaths of six Bangladesh Army personnel. They are:
- Corporal Mohammad Masud Rana
- Sainik Mohammad Mominul Islam
- Sainik Shamim Reza
- Sainik Shanto Mondol
- Sainik Mohammad Jahangir Alam
- Sainik Mohammad Sobuj Mia
The following were wounded:
- Lieutenant Colonel Khondaker Khalekuzzaman
- Sergeant Md Mostakim Hossain
- Corporal Afroza Parvin Iti
- Lance Corporal Mahibul Islam
- Sainik Md Mezbaul Kabir
- Sainik Mst. Umme Hani Akter
- Sainik Chumki Akter
- Sainik Md Manazir Ahsan
In UNISFA’s public remarks, the mission confirmed the casualties and noted the assault torched a warehouse, complicating logistics. The wounded were evacuated by ambulance to Kadugli Hospital; Bangladesh dispatched medical teams to assist. International reactions were immediate. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a statement on X, said the attacks on peacekeepers are unjustifiable and demanded accountability. The UN Security Council convened emergency consultations on 14 December amid heated debate. Western missions urged restraint, while Sudan’s Arab League partners faced pressure as American officials suspected UAE and Chinese drones in the hands of the RSF based on previous similar events. [Darfur 24, AL Jazeera, ISPR]
Drones have become a regular feature of the ongoing Sudanese Civil War, with both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attempting to gain the edge. The RSF have developed a meaningful unmanned aerial strike capability over the course of the war. Available open-source intelligence, satellite imagery, and investigative reporting indicate that the RSF operates a mixed drone inventory combining long-range fixed-wing systems, loitering munitions, and short-range commercial or military multirotor platforms. This capability has enabled the RSF to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), precision strikes, and psychological operations against both military and civilian-linked targets, altering the operational balance in several theaters.
At the core of RSF drone operations are fixed-wing unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) and one-way attack drones. Satellite imagery and independent investigations have identified Chinese-manufactured fixed-wing UAVs, including the CH-95 and FH-95, at RSF-controlled Nyala Airport in South Darfur. These systems provide the RSF with medium-range ISR and strike capability, allowing reconnaissance of Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) positions and selective engagement of military targets beyond immediate front lines. [Reuters]
CA Yunus stressed that Bangladesh would fully support the families of the fallen and urged the UN to ensure the highest level of medical treatment for the wounded. Observers noted all the victims were from the Bangladeshi UNISFA contingent, underscoring the national impact of this single strike. Regionally, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir called the incident shocking and reiterated support for a negotiated settlement. The timing of the attack was also significant. It came just a few weeks after the UN renewed UNISFA’s mandate through February 2026. [TRT World]
It is to be noted that the perpetrators were not officially named by any source other than the press wing of the Sudanese Armed Forces, who blamed the Rapid Support Forces for carrying out the attack. The Bangladesh Army, on the other hand, simply blames a ‘separatist armed group.’ Domestically, the SAF-RSF war had largely focused on Khartoum and Darfur up to late 2025; this strike marks a new phase of violence spilling into Abyei support zones. In Kadugli itself, an RSF siege had cut off roads and driven a humanitarian crisis; the city was declared to be in famine in November 2025. However, the RSF or any other faction has not claimed responsibility for the strike. [Anadolu Agency, The Daily Star]
The volatility of Abyei
Abyei is an oil-rich, contested area on the border between Sudan and South Sudan. It lies along the Kiir River and has been subject to UNISFA involvement since South Sudan’s independence in 2011. Kadugli is the capital of the South Kordofan region, sitting on the northern edge of the Nuba Mountains. UNISFA maintains a presence at Kadugli to support the smooth operation of the activities in Abyei. [UNISFA, UN News]
Abyei has been left unresolved within the wider Sudan-South Sudan conflict, making it a source of tension and keeping it under the watchful eyes of South Sudan. The region is governed as a condominium with the UNISFA, and both the Sudanese and South Sudanese can enter the area, while the Ngok Dinka people live there permanently, and the Mysseria herders graze there seasonally. [Council of Foreign Relations]
A key complication in Abyei is its ethno-political fragmentation. The Ngok Dinka are the dominant tribe and are mostly agro-pastoralists with cultural ties to the Dinka of South Sudan. By contrast, the Misseriya are nomadic Arab herders from northern Sudan, annually migrating through Abyei in search of grazing lands. [The Enough Project]
Historically, the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya have coexisted in harmony, but recent competition for resources and the political climate have strained the relationship. The Ngok Dinka favored assimilation with South Sudan, while many Misseriya sided with Khartoum. These ethnic and cattle ranching disputes have resulted in repeated violence. Notably, the sporadic clashes between the Ngok and Twic Dinka militias in Abyei since 2022 have displaced thousands and killed dozens. The Twic Dinka are a separate Dinka subgroup with a land rights claim. During seasonal migration periods, tensions flare as cattle move through Ngok farms; UN agencies note that intercommunal conflicts predominantly rise during seasonal migration. [AP News, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs]
In South Kordofan, the landscape is equally complex. The Nuba mountains and eastern plains are home to dozens of African ethnicities, collectively called “Nuba,” speaking the Kordofanian/Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages. Many of these Nuba identify with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) that fought for South Sudan, while others align with Khartoum’s forces. Two main SPLM-N factions, led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu and Malik Agar, have in recent decades waged insurgencies against the Sudanese state. Meanwhile, Arab pastoralist groups like the Hawazma and Rizeigat inhabit the surrounding plains. Some of these Arab tribes, such as the Eastern Buram, have their own militia leaders; Brigadier General Kafi Tayyar Al-Badeen commands a militia fighting alongside the Sudanese in the Nuba mountains.
In short, several armed actors operate in this region: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) garrison units, the RSF paramilitaries, the SPLM-N rebel forces, and myriad local militia groups often tied to particular tribes. This patchwork of groups fuels chronic instability. The Horn of Africa think tank notes that the Abyei dispute itself is “characterized by extensive ethnic and historical complexity” and that unresolved ambiguities in Abyei’s borders and administration “exacerbate tension.” [Sudan Tribune, HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies]
Rival groups even within the Ngok community, some allied to the government of South Sudan and others to Khartoum, have fractured over land and political leadership. In practice, UNISFA monitors a region where civilian populations exist uneasily, armed roadblocks proliferate, and distrust runs deep. The UN treats Abyei as one of the world’s most flammable borderlands, where local youths from Dinka, Arab, and Nuer backgrounds gather daily in mixed markets, highlighting both the cultural diversity and the latent fault line: “thousands of Dinka Ngok farmers and Nuer pastoral communities share the same town”, yet each community maintains separate militias or armed groups. Competition for grazing land, water, and oil revenue, combined with a glut of small arms in circulation, means that resource contests often turn violent. Local militias backed by either Juba or Khartoum have sporadically skirmished. In 2019 and 2023, clashes between Twic and Ngok militiamen left scores dead before truces were brokered. [UNISFA]
In summary, Abyei and its environs are hotly contested both between nations and among ethnic or tribal factions. The area’s “volatile” reputation is well-founded; international analysts warn that continued ambiguity and new influxes of weapons create a high risk of renewed large-scale violence. UNISFA’s forceful presence has so far prevented a full-scale Abyei war, but it has not stabilized the border Kordofan region, which has now become another active front. [TRT World, Anadolu Agency]
Drone warfare in Sudan, and a rude awakening
Since 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in a civil war primarily between the Sudanese army (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a conflict increasingly shaped by drone warfare, which has intensified attacks on both military and civilian targets, contributing to the world’s largest displacement crisis, with over 9.5 million people uprooted and millions more facing starvation.
The army controls most of the north and east, including Khartoum, other cities along the Nile, and Port Sudan, while the RSF holds much of Darfur, including El Fasher, as well as some southern and central areas, often using drones to monitor and strike opposing positions. Sudan’s land and agricultural resources are divided: roughly half of the country’s grazing land is shared between the army and RSF, croplands are concentrated mainly between the Blue and White Niles in Gezira State under army control, and the northern “gum Arabic belt,” where acacia trees are grown for export, is also strategically important and occasionally targeted in drone operations.
Oil, the country’s primary export and revenue source, saw production drop to 70,000 barrels per day by 2023 following South Sudan’s secession in 2011; many southern oilfields are under RSF control, while the army holds central and northern refineries, including Khartoum and Port Sudan, with pipelines mostly controlled by the army and increasingly monitored using drones to secure these critical infrastructures. Sudan is also a leading African gold producer, with eastern goldfields controlled by the army and central and southwestern fields under RSF control; much of the mining is artisanal, providing critical funding for both sides, and drone surveillance has been reportedly used to protect or target mining operations.
In 2023, Sudan’s main exports included crude oil ($1.13 billion), gold ($1.03 billion), animal products ($902 million), oilseeds, mostly sesame ($709 million), and gum arabic ($141 million), with Asia receiving 80% of exports, Europe 11%, and Africa 8.5%. Sudan, Africa’s third-largest country at approximately 1.9 million square kilometers, has a population of 50.5 million, largely concentrated along the Nile and in urban centers such as Khartoum, which has around seven million residents, and the ongoing conflict increasingly demonstrates how drone warfare is reshaping both the control of resources and the humanitarian crisis. [Al Jazeera]
The RSF has intensified its offensive in Kordofan, using drone strikes on cities like el-Obeid and targeting army positions, amid clashes that have forced tens of thousands to flee. The fighting threatens critical oil infrastructure and continues Sudan’s severe humanitarian crisis. The UN World Food Programme warned that funding shortages could slash food rations by 70%, putting 20 million Sudanese at risk of malnutrition, with six million facing famine-like conditions. [Al Jazeera]
A drone attack on the Saudi Hospital in El-Fasher, Darfur, killed 30 people and injured dozens, destroying one of the last functioning hospitals in the city. The attack comes amid the ongoing war between the Sudanese army and the RSF. The conflict has devastated health care across Sudan, displaced over 12 million people, and pushed millions toward famine, with starvation already affecting nearby displacement camps. [VOA]
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a drone attack on Port Sudan, targeting a military airbase and civilian facilities, causing explosions but no reported casualties. This marks the first known RSF strike on the Red Sea city, which has served as a temporary government seat since the war began in April 2023. The attack follows a pattern of RSF drone strikes on civilian and military infrastructure across Sudan, including power plants and displacement camps, as the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF has killed at least 24,000 people, displaced 13 million, and driven parts of the country into famine, with widespread reports of atrocities and war crimes. [Al Jazeera]
The RSF expanded its drone attacks to Port Sudan for the first time, targeting military bases, fuel and ammunition depots, power infrastructure, and the airport, disrupting the SAF’s governance and supply lines. The attacks support the RSF’s strategy to partition Sudan, consolidating its hold over western regions while undermining SAF offensives. The SAF has threatened retaliation, including potential strikes against RSF and UAE-backed targets in Chad, as the UAE is a key RSF supporter. [Institute for the Study of War]
The Kadugli strike is deeply sobering for Bangladesh. Beyond the human toll, it signals a new strategic reality: Bangladeshi peacekeepers can now be attacked from a distance through long-range guided drones. Bangladeshi peacekeepers have faced mortars, ambushes, and roadside bombs in the past, but the 13 December attack was unprecedented in its use of long-range guided munitions. Sudan’s Transnational Sovereignty Council itself observed that it was the first of its kind to hit the Abyei UN mission since the 2023 conflict began. For Bangladesh, it has been a harsh introduction to a new kind of threat. [Anadolu Agency]
Closing remarks
Although the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are the primary belligerents, the presence of multiple armed factions in the South Kordofan and the Abyei makes answering the question “by whom?” difficult. While the Kadugli strike resembles previous RSF operations, the spread of ground capabilities, proxy warfare, and fragmented command structures all prevent a definite determination of responsibility. International actors also bear responsibility through political and military material support that has enabled the proliferation of weaponry and the expansion of the conflict. These external influences, combined with local rivalry, complicate accountability.
What is beyond dispute is the human cost. Civilians in Abyei, South Kordofan, and Sudan continue to bear the brunt of a war defined by resource competition, ethnic fragmentation, and technological escalation. The Kadugli attack underscores that even peacekeepers, mandated to protect civilians and stabilize one of the world’s most volatile borderlands, are getting caught in the fire of the conflict. Whether they were collateral victims of a broader military campaign being planned or deliberately targeted to send a message.
For UNISFA, the attack is a stark warning that the Abyei mission is no longer insulated from the Sudan war. So far, UNISFA has largely avoided casualties and maintained its neutrality. Now it faces a deteriorating security environment: UN reports note that dozens of drone strikes and artillery shellings have hit areas near the Abyei corridors. A key concern for aid agencies is that if the UNISFA withdraws, it would leave Abyei civilians even more vulnerable to cross-border raids or militia violence. [Anadolu Agency, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs]
Regionally, the strike may strain Sudan–South Sudan relations. South Sudanese communities may fear an outbreak of fighting in Abyei and Kordofan spilling into their border areas. President Kiir’s mediation office has urged calm, but with both sides locked in a brutal civil war, diplomatic leverage is limited. For now, the priority is a lasting ceasefire. Any lull in fighting could at least allow increased UNISFA activity and humanitarian relief in Abyei. But given that almost all parties have so far violated ceasefire accords, prospects for halting the carnage remain dim.
Verification Note: Information is sourced from and corroborated by various news sources, documents, and government archives. Sources are carefully weighed for authenticity, and superfluous claims without evidence are discarded. Information is then analyzed and interpreted to come to conclusions.
Ahsan Tajwar is a Security and Strategic Reporting Fellow at the Bangladesh Defence Journal. His work focuses on law enforcement, transnational crime, organized trafficking networks, and cross-border security dynamics. He is currently pursuing a B.S.S. in Criminology and is involved with DUMUNA. His analysis relies heavily on an academic approach, with particular emphasis on their socio-cultural dimensions.
Monjuba T Bhuiyan is a Finance student at North South University (NSU), currently working as a Strategic & Security Reporting Fellow at the Bangladesh Defence Journal, where she focuses on writing about the intersection of economics, security, and geopolitics. Her analysis emphasizes structure over noise, context over headlines, and strategy over spectacle.