Rights group says at least 72 miners killed in Sudan-Egypt border airstrike

At least 72 artisanal gold miners were killed in an airstrike in northern Sudan near the Egyptian border on Saturday, according to the Khartoum-based rights group Emergency Lawyers. The group said the preliminary toll could rise as documentation and recovery efforts continue.

Emergency Lawyers accused the Egyptian air force of striking civilian mining camps in the Jabal al-Uqaydat area, which it said lies inside Sudanese territory. Reuters and AFP said they could not independently verify the allegation. Neither Egypt nor Sudan had issued an official statement about the reported attack.

Survivors said an aircraft carried out several strikes on the remote mining site, sending workers fleeing into the surrounding mountains. Images circulated by local groups and on social media appeared to show bodies amid rubble and others prepared for burial, but news organizations said they had not verified the footage.

The reported attack was the second alleged strike on miners in the area this year. Rights groups said 23 workers were killed there in June in strikes also attributed to Egypt. Egypt did not claim responsibility, but its military said at the time that it had conducted a large operation within Egyptian territory targeting illegal gold mining, arms trafficking and smuggling.

The mountainous border region contains gold deposits and includes disputed territory claimed by both Sudan and Egypt. Artisanal mining in northern Sudan has expanded during the civil war that began in April 2023, as economic disruption has pushed more people toward informal gold production.