At least 114 people were killed on Oct. 10 in an airstrike on the Jabal al-Uqaydat artisanal gold mine in Sudan’s North Valley near the Egyptian border, the rights group Emergency Lawyers said. The aircraft and the attack’s responsibility have not been independently established.
Miners arriving after the bombing used blankets as stretchers, carried wounded people by pickup truck to nearby towns and dug graves for the dead. Survivors said an unidentified aircraft struck the mountainous mining area, prompting others to flee because of fears of further attacks. Egyptian authorities had reportedly warned miners to leave, and Egyptian security forces detained hundreds of people in June over alleged illegal mining and smuggling.
The strike has intensified anger in Sudan, where miners and rights groups have accused Egypt of carrying it out. Egypt has described its border operations as efforts to stop illegal gold mining, and its military later confirmed operations in the eastern desert without directly addressing the bombing. The same site was reportedly struck in June, when at least 15 people were killed, while miners said clashes preceded the latest attack.
Artisanal mining has expanded during Sudan’s war between the military and the Rapid Support Forces as unemployment and poverty have driven workers from conflict-hit Darfur and Kordofan toward the border. Gold production continues in areas controlled by both sides, although much of the trade is informal: more than half of Sudan’s mined gold was smuggled out of the country in 2024, and Egypt is estimated to receive about 60% of gold produced and smuggled from northern border regions.
The work brings additional dangers from manual extraction and chemicals including mercury and cyanide. Most miners dispersed after the bombing, but Emergency Lawyers said many intended to return because prospecting was their only available income. Human-rights campaigner Hala al-Karib said the collapse of education and employment had left workers with few alternatives, while the digital-evidence group Shahid called for an independent investigation into the attack, the aircraft involved and the chain of command behind it.