Drone attacks hit 2 power stations in eastern Sudan, trigger widespread outage

Drone attacks targeted two electricity substations in the cities of Aroma and New Halfa in Sudan’s eastern Kassala state early Monday, causing widespread power outages across the state, Anadolu reports.

The attacks brought to 15 the number of electricity stations targeted by drones across Sudan over the past week, including in Khartoum, Gezira, Sennar, Red Sea, Gedaref, Kassala and River Nile states.

​​​​​​​Drones struck the New Halfa and Aroma electricity substations early Monday, witnesses said.

The two attacks caused widespread electricity outages across Kassala state, according to local sources.

Videos circulated on social media showed fires at the New Halfa and Aroma stations, while Civil Defense teams were seen trying to extinguish the blaze at the Aroma facility.

On Sunday, drones targeted the Abu Hamad electricity substation in River Nile state and the Al-Dabbah substation in Northern state.

READ: Sudan accuses Ethiopia of direct involvement in drone war, presents evidence

Following the attacks, the Sudanese government said Sunday that it had filed complaints against Ethiopia with the UN Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council, accusing Addis Ababa of involvement in attacks on civilian infrastructure and power stations in several Sudanese states.

There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia.

Sudanese authorities and rights groups have accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of targeting civilian infrastructure. The paramilitary group generally does not comment on such accusations and says it works to protect civilians.​​​​​​​

The Sudanese army and RSF have been fighting since April 2023 in a conflict triggered by disagreements over the integration of the paramilitary group, leaving tens of thousands dead and displacing around 13 million people amid a worsening humanitarian and hunger crisis.

READ: Sudan accuses over 20 countries of involvement in ongoing war