Attack On A City In Sudan Kills At Least Five And Injures More: UNICEF

Bombing which devastated a school and market in the Sudanese city of El Obeid on Wednesday has left five girls dead and 20 children injured according to the UN Children’s Fund’s Sudan Representative.

The bomb hit the Al-Khansa Secondary School for Girls and a crowded marketplace in El Obeid city in Kordofan state, said the statement released by UNICEF’s Sheldon Yett, released on Thursday.

This attack followed another on Sunday where a “shell struck a UNICEF-supported child-friendly space in Al Hattana, Khartoum state, killing two boys and injuring at least 8 eight others,” said Mr. Yett.

The attacks “come in wake of” other strikes against health facilities in other regions of the country, he added.

Forces of the military government have been battling formerly allied rival militia the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April last year for control of Sudan, throwing the country into chaos and a deepening humanitarian crisis.

Closed schools

The UNICEF Representative said that schools have remained closed for more than a year now due to the conflict in the country, leaving over 17 million school-aged children without access to safe education.

Hundreds of partially opened schools are used as shelters for internally displaced people, further restricting children’s access to education.

“Attacks on schools represent a grave violation against children,” Mr. Yett said. “Such attacks disrupt and deprive children of their education.”

Deaths and injuries

The UNICEF representative reported that since the beginning of the brutal civil war over 110 schools and hospitals have been attacked.

These attacks have killed and injured thousands of children, Mr. Yett said.

“Many more have been exposed to other grave violations including sexual violence and recruitment or use in the conflict,” he said.

He noted that there has been a “five-fold increase in grave violations against children” in 2024 than two years prior.

Mr. Yett said the UN children’s agency is calling on all armed forces to end their attacks on civilian facilities and infrastructure and protect children according to their international humanitarian law obligations.

“Schools give children in the war-torn country a chance to learn, play with their friends, and help them cope with trauma,” the representative said. “Attacks on schools, health facilities and other civilian objects must stop immediately.”

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