Sudan

Five Aid Workers Killed in Sudan Convoy Attack

Published JUN 5 2025

Story

Above: Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid in Port Sudan, eastern Sudan, on Dec. 24, 2024. Image credit: Mohamed Iyssa/Contributor/Xinhua via Getty Images

The Facts

Five humanitarian workers were killed and several others injured when a 15-truck UN convoy carrying food and nutrition supplies was attacked Monday night near Al Koma in North Darfur, Sudan, according to joint statements from UNICEF and the World Food Programme.
UN News
Al Jazeera
CNN
The convoy traveled over 1,800 kilometers from Port Sudan, attempting to reach El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, when it came under attack while negotiating final access clearances, marking what would have been the first UN humanitarian convoy to reach the besieged city in over a year.
EuroNews
Dw.Com
Multiple trucks were reportedly burned, and humanitarian supplies damaged in the attack, which occurred in an area controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) near the town of Al Koma.
XINHUA
BBC News
Both warring parties blamed each other for the attack, with the RSF claiming the convoy was hit by a military aircraft in a pre-planned attack, while the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) accused RSF fighters of using assault drones to torch the trucks. Neither account could be independently verified.
The Times of India
Aa
This is the latest assault on humanitarian operations in Sudan's two-year civil war, following the recent RSF shelling of World Food Programme facilities in El Fasher and a deadly attack on El Obeid Hospital in North Kordofan that killed several medical staff.
VOI
The New Arab
The broader conflict has displaced over 12 million people and created what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, affecting more than half of Sudan's population.
The IRC
UN

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

The SAF is responsible for the attack on the UN aid convoy in a deliberate airstrike aimed at hindering humanitarian assistance to civilians in RSF-controlled areas. The SAF has a history of obstructing aid deliveries, including using humanitarian convoys to transport weapons, thereby compromising the neutrality of relief efforts.

Plan International

Rapidsupportforce

Narrative B

The convoy attack occurred in RSF-controlled territory. The RSF is known to be responsible for looting aid convoys, diverting humanitarian supplies for their own use, and coercing aid workers into producing propaganda. The RSF's actions not only endanger civilians but also undermine the integrity of humanitarian operations.