Airstrikes Kill at Least 72 Gold Miners on Sudan-Egypt Border

Airstrikes Kill at Least 72 at Sudan Gold Mine

Airstrikes killed at least 72 civilian gold miners at an artisanal mining site on the disputed Egypt-Sudan border on Saturday, according to a Sudanese rights group that accused the Egyptian air force of carrying out the attack. [1] The strikes targeted the Jabal al-Uqaydat gold mine in Sudan's River Nile state. [1] The Emergency Lawyers rights organisation accused the Egyptian air force of carrying out the attack. [1] AFP could not independently confirm the account and Egypt has issued no official comment. [1] The attack on Saturday "resulted in the deaths of 72 civilian miners, according to preliminary information, while efforts to document and verify the casualty toll are ongoing," said the Emergency Lawyers, which documents atrocities in Sudan's war. [1]

Survivors Recount Chaos and Bodies in Rubble

Two survivors described to AFP their harrowing escape from the mine. [1] Miner Abdelaziz Youssef said a jet appeared overhead at around 8:00 am (0600 GMT) on Saturday and "struck five times, many people were killed". [1] "We ran up the mountain terrified of another strike," he told AFP. [1] Another survivor, Sharaf Ali, said there were thousands of people working at the remote site when it was hit. [1] "After the airstrike people scattered, some people came to Al-Ansary market, others went in the other direction, that's why no one knows how many exactly were killed," he said from the gold market, just south of the Halayeb triangle. [1] Both survivors said they saw bodies on the ground as they fled, with many more feared trapped under the rubble, hours away from any urban centre. [1] 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. [2] The Paris-based Sudan Tribune reported that the death toll could far exceed the number reported by Emergency Lawyers, citing a survivor of Saturday's attack who said many more people had been injured. [3] Eyewitnesses said the attack began around 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT), with the aircraft firing more than five missiles directly at the miners' camps, destroying them and excavation pits with people still inside. [3]

Second Strike This Year on Same Site

The attack on Saturday was the second this year on Jabal al-Uqaydat, after airstrikes, reportedly by Egypt, killed 23 workers in the informal gold mining site in June. [1] The Egyptian army did not claim the strikes but said at the time that it had conducted a "large-scale operation" against illegal gold mining within its borders. [1] The Sudan Tribune reported claims in June that Egyptian forces had used drones and artillery to target artisanal mining sites in the same region, killing several, after sporadic incidents of Egyptian border guards burning equipment, torching temporary shelters, and firing live ammunition to disperse mine workers. [3] Days later, Egypt's border agency announced that it and the military had begun a sweeping security campaign along the border to foil illegal migration, drug smuggling and illegal mining. [3]

Rights Group Accuses Egypt of Violations

Emergency Lawyers said the attack occurred within Sudanese territory. [1] "The repeated attacks on the gold- and mineral-rich border regions reflect a desire by Egyptian authorities to expand and assert control over Sudan's natural resources," it said. [1] Emergency Lawyers blamed the Egyptian air force for the strike, a claim Reuters could not immediately verify. [2] Emergency Lawyers said such a cross-border attack would violate international law. [2] "The deliberate targeting of unarmed civilians violates international humanitarian law and the right to life," it said in a statement on Sunday. [3] "These acts may constitute war crimes." [3] It noted that its death toll was provisional and could rise. [3]

Gold Mining Boom Amid Sudan Civil War

Since April 2023, the conflict has killed more than 200,000 people and created a deep humanitarian crisis that has pushed many into the dangerous gold mining industry, which fuels both sides' war efforts. [1] 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. [2] Experts and those in the sector say much of that gold is smuggled into Egypt. [2] The rugged mountainous area, home to bountiful mineral deposits, stretches for hundreds of kilometres and includes the disputed Halayeb triangle. [1] The border between Sudan and Egypt is disputed, with both countries claiming the resource-rich Halayeb triangle. [1] Gold lies at the core of the border tensions. [3] Sudan's ongoing civil war has led to a surge in artisanal mining — an often risky practice conducted by civilians with rudimentary tools and without official permission — particularly in remote areas near its borders. [3] Gold-rich areas such as those in River Nile state lie along porous borders in terrain historically associated with cross-border smuggling routes, with artisanally mined gold potentially feeding into those channels. [3] Egypt's border force said in June that it had seized 86 tonnes of gold ore along with amateur prospecting equipment. [3] Artisanal mining has also reportedly continued in Sudan's conflict zones and smuggled gold may be a source of income for armed insurgent groups. [3]

No Immediate Comment from Egypt or Sudanese Authorities

The Egyptian military did not comment on the incident and Egypt's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. [2] Neither the Egyptian government nor the de facto Sudanese authorities have so far commented. [3] The Egyptian army in June said it carried out its operation "within Egyptian territory". [1] It said 223 people were detained, including 136 foreign nationals, and announced a campaign to counter "illegal gold mining and arms smuggling" in the area. [1] Despite backing Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Egypt considers the war at its border — which stretches 1,200 kilometres from the Red Sea to Libya — a major threat to its security. [1]

What to watch next: 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, with one recent example of 31 people killed in a drone strike on a displacement camp in an army-controlled area of Sudan's Blue Nile state. [2]