Sudan’s army said on 2025-08-06 that it shot down an Emirati aircraft carrying mercenaries as it prepared to land at Nyala airport in South Darfur, an airfield controlled by the Rapid Support Forces. State television said the attack killed at least 40 people and destroyed weapons cargo on board, though the military account could not be independently verified.
If confirmed, the strike would mark one of the most serious episodes yet in Sudan’s wider war, which has pitted the national armed forces against the RSF since April 2023. The conflict has already displaced millions and produced one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, has been a repeated target in the fighting because of its military value and its role as a base for RSF operations in the west of the country.
The army said the aircraft had been tracked from a base in the Gulf before it arrived in Darfur, but it did not identify the exact departure point. In its account, the plane was destroyed as it came in to land, preventing the transfer of fighters and materiel to the paramilitary side. A military source quoted anonymously by local media described the aircraft as being completely destroyed.
The Sudanese government has for months accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF, including by supplying advanced weapons through Nyala airport. Abu Dhabi has denied the allegations. The latest claim again places the regional dispute over the war at the centre of the fighting, even as neither side has offered an independently verified account of what happened on the runway.
The television report said the aircraft was carrying mercenaries from Colombia. That detail fits with earlier Sudanese allegations that foreign fighters are being recruited into the conflict, but it remains unverified from the evidence available in the packet. Still, it was enough to prompt Colombian President Gustavo Petro to ask his ambassador in Egypt to find out how many Colombians may have died. Petro said on social media that reports of 40 dead had not yet been confirmed.
The army’s statement framed the strike as a warning about sovereignty and foreign interference. It said Sudan’s borders and airspace were red lines, and that the armed forces were acting to stop outside backing for the RSF. That language reflects a broader pattern in the war: both sides have repeatedly accused each other of relying on foreign sponsors, while the battlefield continues to shift across the country’s west and centre.
Nyala is strategically important because it links Darfur to wider supply routes and sits deep inside territory held by the RSF. The airport has been attacked before, and the war has increasingly drawn in concerns about drones, air power and cross-border logistics. In recent months, the army has sought to show that it can still strike far from the front line, even as the RSF retains control over large parts of western Sudan.
With the latest claim, Sudan’s military is trying to signal that it can interdict suspected outside support before it reaches RSF positions. But the absence of independent verification means the full scale of the episode, including the identities of those on board and the exact death toll, remains uncertain.
