PORT SUDAN, Sudan, Aug 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A drone attack Wednesday targeting the Sudanese town of Tamboul, southeast of the capital Khartoum, killed two people including a child, a medical source told AFP.

The deaths in what had been a comparatively peaceful region of war-torn Sudan came as the UN's rights chief pointed to a deepening crisis in besieged El-Fasher on the other side of the country, warning of the risk of ethnic persecution and reports of executions.

Neither the regular army nor its paramilitary rival the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) issued any comment on the Tamboul strike, which was the first attack in months in Al-Jazira state, Sudan's pre-war agricultural heartland.

"Two people died in a drone explosion and several more were injured," the medical source said on condition of anonymity from Tamboul Hospital, adding that "one of them was an 11-year-old child".

One Tamboul resident said chaos had erupted Wednesday in the central square, where "hundreds of people had gathered" for a ceremony celebrating Sudan's Army Day, with air defences responding to the drone attack.

The RSF has in recent months been accused of widespread drone attacks across army-controlled areas of Sudan, striking critical infrastructure and causing blackouts for millions.

Al-Jazira state had been largely calm since the army recaptured it from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in January during the same counteroffensive that saw it retake Khartoum in March.

According to the United Nations, around a million people have returned to their homes in Al-Jazira since January.

Since it began in April 2023, the war between the regular army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.

The army now controls the centre, north and east of Sudan, while the RSF holds nearly all of the west and parts of the south.

- 'Violence and brutality' -

The RSF has been accused of mass ethnic killings in Darfur, in the west, where it this week launched a new attack on the North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, the only major city in the region it does not control.

The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, on Wednesday condemned the renewed RSF campaign.

"Once again, I am raising the alarm about the serious risk of ethnically motivated persecution as the RSF tries to seize control of El Fasher and Abu Shouk camp," he said in a statement.

The UN Security Council "expressed grave concern" about the assault in a statement on Wednesday and called on all sides to follow international law and allow in humanitarian aid.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said after the Security Council statement that hundreds of thousands were trapped in the city and faced famine and disease, while those who escaped were under attack.

"It is part of a pattern of deliberate violence and brutality against civilians. The warring parties have a responsibility to end this needless suffering," he said.

The assault has killed at least 40 people in the Abu Shouk displacement camp, first responders reported, the same week health officials said 63 people had died from malnutrition as a result of the RSF's siege on the city.

The UN corroborated the Abu Shouk figure and said another 17 civilians had been killed elsewhere. It also said it was "following up on allegations of executions" of displaced people in the camp.

The Security Council also condemned the establishment last month by the RSF of a parallel government in areas it controls, calling it "a direct threat to Sudan's territorial integrity and unity".

On Tuesday, government sources reported Sudan's army chief and de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met with US President Donald Trump's Africa advisor Massad Boulos in a secret meeting in Switzerland about a US peace proposal.

Past efforts to mediate between Burhan and his deputy turned rival, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, have failed to yield a sustained ceasefire.