# Sudan army strike kills 23 at Khartoum market
On Oct. 13, 2024, a military air strike on a market in Khartoum killed 23 people and wounded 40 others, according to a Sudanese volunteer rescue network cited in the supplied DW report. The attack hit the main market area in the capital's south while the army was trying to wrest control of Khartoum back from the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.
The Emergency Response Rooms said on Facebook that the strike took place on Saturday afternoon. Sudan Tribune, cited in the report, said the bombing also hit residential buildings and caused massive damage in the central market area, including high-rise structures. The picture that emerges is not of a military base or open battlefield, but of a civilian market surrounded by homes and dense urban infrastructure.
The strike took place against the background of a war that has torn apart Sudan since April 2023. Large parts of Khartoum remain under RSF control, while the regular army is based in Port Sudan and has been trying to reclaim the capital. That struggle has repeatedly put civilians in the path of shelling, air raids and street fighting, especially in areas where market activity and housing overlap.
The scale of the wider crisis is enormous. The World Health Organization says at least 20,000 people have been killed in the war, while other estimates are far higher. UN figures put the number of people forced from their homes at 10 million, making it the world's largest displacement crisis. The report also noted that a UN-backed assessment declared famine in Zamzam refugee camp in Darfur, showing that the fighting has spread its effects far beyond Khartoum.
The latest strike fits that pattern of urban war with civilians trapped in the middle. The AFP-cited eyewitness reporting in the story described clashes in Omdurman as the military advanced, suggesting that the capital region remained contested even as air power was used against a market. In practical terms, the attack left rescue crews dealing with bodies, injuries and destruction in a place where people would normally be shopping for daily necessities.
What makes the Khartoum attack especially stark is that it hit a marketplace, one of the few places where people can still gather for food and basic goods amid a ruined city. That means the strike did more than add to a body count; it undermined one of the last ordinary routines left in the capital. In a war that has already produced famine warnings and mass displacement, the market bombing was another sign that civilians are being squeezed out of even the most basic urban spaces.
A market strike has a way of spreading fear beyond the immediate casualties because it tells residents that even basic errands can become dangerous. In Khartoum, where the army and RSF are still fighting for control, that message matters. It means the capital's civilian spaces are still exposed and that the war is reaching people while they buy food, work and try to stay afloat.
