# Six Bangladeshi peacekeepers killed in drone strike on UN base in Sudan
A drone strike on a United Nations peacekeeping facility in Kadugli, in Sudan’s Kordofan region, killed six Bangladeshi peacekeepers and wounded eight others, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN mission in the area.
The attack hit the peacekeeping logistics base on Saturday, Guterres said in a statement. All of the dead and injured were Bangladeshi nationals serving with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei, known as UNISFA. The Sudanese army blamed the strike on the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group fighting the army in Sudan’s civil war.
The UN chief condemned the attack as “horrific” and said strikes on UN peacekeepers could amount to war crimes under international law. He also called for accountability and urged an immediate ceasefire in Sudan to open the way for a political process led by Sudanese actors.
Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, said he was deeply saddened by the deaths and asked the UN to ensure the wounded received emergency support. He also said Bangladesh would stand by the families of the dead peacekeepers.
The attack landed in a wider war that has already displaced millions and devastated large parts of Sudan. Fighting between the army and the RSF began in April 2023 and has increasingly centred on Kordofan and Darfur. The conflict has produced widespread destruction, allegations of atrocities and a humanitarian emergency that the UN has described as among the world’s worst.
UNISFA has been deployed in the disputed Abyei area since 2011, after South Sudan became independent. Bangladesh is one of the mission’s largest troop contributors, and its forces have long served in the region to help protect civilians amid repeated local clashes.
The latest strike came only a month after the UN Security Council renewed the UNISFA mandate for another year. That timing underlines the exposure of peacekeepers operating in Sudan’s conflict zones, where UN personnel and civilian facilities have repeatedly been pulled into the violence.
The military said the attack “clearly reveals” what it described as a subversive approach by the rebel militia. The RSF did not appear in the supplied evidence packet, but the army’s accusation and the UN’s condemnation were central to the immediate response.
The scale of the losses also sharpens scrutiny of how protected UN sites are in active war zones. For Bangladesh, which contributes heavily to UN peacekeeping, the dead and wounded represent one of the most serious losses its personnel have suffered in the current Sudan war.
Citation Map
The core facts on the deaths, injuries, location, nationality of the victims, army blame, Guterres’s response and Bangladesh’s reaction are all taken from the supplied Al Jazeera report.
