At least 72 Sudanese artisanal miners killed in strike, rights monitor says

At least 72 artisanal miners were killed in an airstrike in northern Sudan on Saturday, rights monitor Emergency Lawyers ‌said on Sunday, in the second such incident in several months.

Emergency Lawyers blamed the Egyptian air force for the strike, a claim Reuters could not immediately verify. The Egyptian military did not comment on the incident and Egypt’s foreign ⁠ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Images shared on social media and by local rights groups but not verified by Reuters show dozens of bodies strewn in rubble and others wrapped in funeral shrouds, and miners describing an airstrike on the area.

Emergency Lawyers said such a cross-border attack would violate international law.

Faiz Abubakr/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

‘You cannot hide from a drone strike’: The terror falling from the sky in Sudan

Northern Sudan has seen an influx of artisanal miners and ‌makeshift ⁠gold mines as the country’s ongoing conflict disrupted other sources of livelihoods and gold became the key cash source for both warring parties. Experts and those in the sector say much of that gold is ⁠smuggled into Egypt.

The war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has seen an increased frequency of mass-casualty events, particularly as drone ⁠warfare becomes the primary mode of fighting.

On Friday, some 31 people were killed in a drone strike on a displacement ⁠camp in an army-controlled area of Sudan’s Blue Nile state, one of the war’s frontlines, according to the United Nations.

人权监督组织“紧急律师”周日表示，周六苏丹北部的一次空袭造成至少 72 名小型矿工丧生，这是几个月来发生的第二起类似事件。

紧急律师指责埃及空军发动了此次袭击，路透社无法立即核实这一说法。埃及军方未对此事发表评论，埃及外交部也未立即回应置评请求。

社交媒体和当地人权组织分享的图片（但未经路透社核实）显示，数十具尸体散落在瓦砾堆中，另一些尸体则裹着寿衣，矿工们描述了该地区遭受的空袭。

紧急律师表示，这种跨境袭击将违反国际法。

Faiz Abubakr/洛杉矶时报/Getty Images

“你躲不开无人机袭击”：苏丹的空中恐怖袭击

由于苏丹持续不断的冲突破坏了其他生计来源，黄金成为交战双方的主要现金来源，导致苏丹北部涌入大量个体矿工和临时金矿。专家和业内人士表示，其中大部分黄金被走私到埃及。

苏丹军队与准军事快速支援部队之间的战争中，大规模伤亡事件的发生频率不断增加，尤其是在无人机战争成为主要作战方式之后。

据联合国称，周五，苏丹青尼罗州（战争前线之一）一处由军队控制的流离失所者营地遭到无人机袭击，造成约 31 人死亡。