72 gold mine workers killed in Sudan airstrike blamed on Egypt

At least 72 workers were killed in an airstrike on a gold mine in a mountainous area near the Sudan-Egypt border, according to a Sudanese rights group cited by Al Jazeera.

Emergency Lawyers, a Khartoum-based rights organisation documenting atrocities during Sudan’s war, blamed the Egyptian military for the attack.

In a statement posted on X on Sunday, the group said Egyptian warplanes had targeted civilian miners in the North Wadi area inside Sudanese territory. Preliminary information indicated that 72 civilians had been killed, it said.

The attack reportedly took place on Saturday, October 10. However, Al Jazeera said it could not independently verify the report. The Egyptian government had not issued an official statement on the incident.

The strike was reportedly the second attack this year in the gold-rich mountainous Jabal al-Uqaydat border region. A similar airstrike in the same mining area in June killed 23 workers. Egypt was also blamed for that attack.

At the time, the Egyptian military said it had conducted a “large-scale operation” against illegal gold mining within its own borders.

Sudan and Egypt have a longstanding territorial dispute, with both countries claiming the resource-rich Hala’ib Triangle.

Images circulated on social media and by local rights groups reportedly showed dozens of bodies scattered among the rubble, while others were wrapped in shrouds. Mine workers also reported airstrikes in the area.