High-ranking Sudanese army general killed during drone attack on Khartoum

KHARTOUM – A high-ranking Sudanese army officer was killed on Tuesday morning during a wave of drone attacks on Khartoum, in one of the most serious escalations of unmanned aerial warfare by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since their ouster from the capital earlier this year.

Major-General Abu Ubieda Fadlallah Ibrahim, the Sudanese military’s director of military security and deputy director of military intelligence was killed when drones struck the Military Intelligence building in Khartoum Bahri’s Kafouri district, according to security sources and residents who spoke to Sudans Post.

“He was inside the Military Intelligence headquarters in Kafouri when one of the drones hit the building directly. The strike caused major destruction, and Abu Ubieda was confirmed dead at the scene along with several other officers who were inside,” the source said.

“The general had returned from a routine briefing only hours before the attack, and he was in his office when the drone came down. The army tried to secure the area immediately, but the damage was already done and the building was left burning for hours” the source added.

Major General Fadlallah is from the eastern state of Qadarif and previously served as Sudan’s military attaché to Ethiopia. The sources who spoke to Sudans Post said at least eight other senior military officers were also wounded in the strike.

General Fadlallah’s death is the latest in a series of high-profile army casualties, marking one of the most significant blows to Sudan’s military leadership since the conflict with the RSF erupted in April 2023, in which many senior officers have been killed.

The drone strikes lasted for more than three hours, hitting several sites across the capital Khartoum region’s three cities. Among the hardest-hit locations was the Murkhiyat electricity transformer station in Omdurman, where large fires were seen after drones destroyed key transformers.

Video circulating online and geolocated by Sudans Post showed live drone attacks on the Murkhiyat facility at dawn as the sun was about to rise, filmed by a resident south of the station.

Witnesses in Karari, north of Omdurman, reported a series of explosions near the Wadi Saedna military base. Heavy smoke was also seen rising from industrial and energy facilities in Bahri, including the Yarmouk military complex and the Jaily oil refinery.

In southern Khartoum locality, residents in the Kalakla district described hearing the buzzing of drones overhead followed by loud blasts after the drones targeted the Yarmouk military complex.

The Sudanese Electricity Company confirmed in a brief statement that a “partial outage” had affected Omdurman following the attacks, though it did not provide further details. Residents said power cuts extended across large parts of the city, disrupting water supplies and communications.

The Sudanese army has yet to issue a statement on the death of Major General Fadlallah. Traditionally, announcements of senior officers’ deaths are made days or even weeks after the incident, often timed with high-level visits by officials to the families of the slain commanders.

The RSF-led Sudan Founding Alliance (Ta’sis) claimed responsibility for the drone strikes, framing them as retaliation for Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) operations in Darfur and Kordofan.

The group said the attacks on Khartoum were meant to hit military and logistical sites linked to the government’s war effort and to answer what it called the “criminal targeting” of hospitals and civilian facilities, including in Nyala.

“The Sudan Founding Alliance announces that the precise and successful airstrikes carried out by its Air Force today, Tuesday, against military targets in Khartoum and other cities came as a direct response to the targeting of hospitals and civilian facilities in Darfur and Kordofan, including the city of Nyala,” the alliance said.

“These operations targeted military and logistical sites that serve the enemy’s war effort, without harming civilians or their property, and all options remain open to respond to further aggressions,” it added.

The escalation comes as the army intensifies operations in Kordofan, where troops recently regained ground in battles around Kazigil. The RSF, facing setbacks on the ground, has turned to suicide drones to strike deep into army-held areas.