GENEVA — Drone strikes killed nearly 100 civilians and injured many more in Sudan's conflict-torn Kordofan region in just over two weeks, the UN rights chief said Monday.

 

"In a period of just over two weeks to February 6, based on documentation by my office, some 90 civilians were killed and 142 injured in drone strikes," Volker Turk told the United Nations Human Rights Council.

 

He said the strikes, which were carried out by both the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Sudan's regular army, "struck a World Food Programme convoy, markets, health facilities and residential neighbourhoods in South and North Kordofan."

 

Meanwhile, UNICEF has said earlier that at least 20 Sudanese children were killed in January, most of them in the Kordofan and Darfur regions in western Sudan.

 

The deaths were cited in a report published by the UN children’s agency addressing the situation of children across the region, including Sudan.

 

“In Sudan, in January 2026, at least 20 children were killed, most of them killed in the Kordofan and Darfur states,” UNICEF said.

 

The agency warned that “millions of children in Sudan require lifesaving assistance, protection and the restoration of essential services” as fighting continues to devastate large parts of the country.

 

UNICEF said famine has already been confirmed in Al Fasher in North Darfur and in Kadugli in Kordofan, with nearly 20 other areas at risk.

 

The agency said that Sudan continues to face extremely complex humanitarian crises, which have left 15.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including more than 8.5 million children.

 

More than 4 million children have been forcibly displaced internally and across borders, making it the world’s largest internal displacement crisis for children, UNICEF said.

 

Over 13 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance.