An airstrike on a gold mine on the Sudan Egypt border killed at least 72 workers, the Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers said Sunday, accusing the Egyptian air force of carrying out the attack.
A separate count from the Sudan Doctors Network, cited by the Associated Press, put the toll far lower: at least 13 artisanal miners killed and 28 others wounded.
Egypt has issued no official comment, and Agence France Presse said it could not independently confirm the rights group’s account.
What We Know So Far
The strike came Saturday on Jabal Al Uqaydat, a mountainous, remote mining area. Emergency Lawyers, which documents atrocities in Sudan’s war, said the attack “resulted in the deaths of 72 civilian miners, according to preliminary information.” It said efforts to document and verify the toll are continuing.
Survivors described chaos to AFP. Miner Abdelaziz Youssef said a jet appeared overhead around 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and “struck five times, many people were killed.” He said people ran up the mountain in fear of another strike.
Sharaf Ali, another survivor, said thousands of people were working at the site. After the strike, people scattered in different directions, some toward the Al Ansary market, so nobody knows exactly how many died, he said from the gold market just south of the disputed Halayeb triangle. Both men said they saw bodies on the ground as they fled, and many more people are feared trapped under rubble, hours from any urban center.
Youssef, whose name the AP spelled Abdel Aziz Yousef, told the AP that an unknown aircraft hit an artisanal gold mine in a mountainous area Saturday morning. The AP said it was not immediately clear who was behind the strike.
The Sudan Doctors Network said the death toll is likely to rise because some of the wounded have serious injuries and limited access to health care.
What Authorities Are Saying
Emergency Lawyers said the attack occurred inside Sudanese territory and that repeated strikes on the border’s gold and mineral rich regions reflect “a desire by Egyptian authorities to expand and assert control” over Sudan’s natural resources.
The Sudan Doctors Network said Egyptian authorities had repeatedly warned the miners to evacuate the area, which it said is reportedly part of Egypt.
The Egyptian army did not claim earlier strikes. In June, it said it had carried out a “large scale operation” against illegal gold mining “within Egyptian territory,” detaining 223 people, including 136 foreign nationals, and announcing a campaign against illegal gold mining and arms smuggling.
Differing Accounts
The two sources disagree on the toll and on who was responsible. Emergency Lawyers reported at least 72 dead and blamed the Egyptian air force, while the Sudan Doctors Network, via the AP, reported at least 13 dead and 28 wounded and said it was not clear who carried out the strike. The two outlets also described the location differently. AFP placed the strike at Jabal Al Uqaydat on the Sudan Egypt border, and the AP described the border triangle area between Sudan, Egypt and Libya. Neither toll has been independently confirmed.
Why This Matters
If confirmed, the attack would be the second this year on Jabal Al Uqaydat. Airstrikes reportedly carried out by Egypt killed 23 workers at the informal mining site in June.
The border is disputed, with both countries claiming the resource rich Halayeb triangle, yet Cairo is a key ally of Sudan’s army, which is fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Egypt backs army chief Abdel Fattah al Burhan but sees the war along its 1,200 kilometer border, from the Red Sea to Libya, as a major security threat.
Gold sits at the center of the conflict, which began in April 2023 and has killed more than 200,000 people. Both sides use gold revenue to fund their war efforts, and the humanitarian crisis has pushed many into dangerous mining work. The AP reported that the Rapid Support Forces have smuggled thousands of tons of gold out of Darfur and Kordofan, and a 2024 U.N. Panel of Experts report found more than 50% of the gold mined in Sudan was smuggled out of the country. Egypt has tried to stem trafficking across the porous border, including through mass deportations.
What Happens Next
Documentation of the toll continues, and it could rise as bodies are recovered and the wounded are treated. Whether Egypt will comment or claim the strike remains to be seen. Any confirmation that Cairo carried out the attack could strain its ties with Sudan’s army, while a continued silence leaves the question of responsibility unresolved.
Reporting drawn from Arab News, citing Agence France Presse, and the Associated Press
