Drone attacks targeted Sudan’s capital and the army-held northern cities of Atbara and Ad-Damar before dawn on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, in an apparent coordinated assault after months of relative calm in Khartoum.

An AFP correspondent reported drone activity in the capital at about 05:00 local time (03:00 GMT), accompanied by anti-aircraft fire from the direction of the Sudanese army’s Wadi Seidna base, just north of Omdurman.

Witnesses in Atbara and Ad-Damar, both in River Nile state, said they saw drones overhead and heard explosions. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The authorities had not announced any confirmed targets or damage by late Wednesday morning.

The attack followed repeated drone strikes on army-held areas. In April 2025, a strike attributed to the Rapid Support Forces by River Nile state’s governor hit a displacement camp outside Ad-Damar and the nearby Atbara power station, killing at least 11 people and injuring 23, Reuters reported.

The Sudanese Armed Forces retook Khartoum in March 2025 after the RSF had controlled much of the capital from the early months of the war. Residents, government ministries and international agencies had begun returning before another series of drone attacks struck the capital in May 2026.

Drone warfare has become central to the conflict. Reuters verified satellite imagery showing 13 long-range, delta-wing attack drones and launch equipment near the RSF-held airport in Nyala in May 2025.

Experts said such aircraft could have a range of about 2,000 kilometres, enough to reach anywhere in Sudan, although they could not confirm the manufacturer.

The war began in April 2023 after a power struggle between army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo over integrating the paramilitary force into the military during a proposed transition to civilian rule.

The army holds most of Sudan’s centre, north and east, while the RSF has consolidated control over much of Darfur and expanded operations in Kordofan and along the Ethiopian border.

No group had publicly claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attacks, and the army had not issued a statement identifying who launched the drones.