Dozens Of Miners Killed In Strikes On Sudan-Egypt Border Goldfields

Dozens of artisanal gold miners were killed or wounded in airstrikes on mining sites near the Sudan-Egypt border, with Sudanese political parties and survivors squarely accusing Egyptian forces of carrying out the attack, even as Cairo has stayed silent and casualty figures remain difficult to verify independently.

At least 15 people were killed and more than 50 others injured when aircraft struck artisanal gold mining sites in the Jabal al-Uqaydat area on Tuesday, June 16, according to eyewitnesses and local sources. Sahih Sudan, a Sudanese online platform, reported the strikes hit at around 6 a.m., with a separate raid targeting a second mine nearby. The attack struck mining areas northeast of Atbara in River Nile State, one of Sudan’s most active artisanal gold production zones, though some Sudanese sources place the sites within Red Sea State, a discrepancy that has not been resolved.

Survivors said they fled on foot for about 120 kilometres to reach the al-Ansari market, one of Sudan’s oldest mining trading centres, where the dead and injured were taken, with an unknown number stranded along the route. A ground operation involving roughly 60 military vehicles with air cover also targeted the second site, and a week of aerial surveillance preceded the strikes, miners alleged. The “Joint Forces” unit assigned to protect the mine reportedly withdrew four hours before the attack.

Politically, the condemnation was swift. The Republican Party described the incident as “treacherous Egyptian aggression” and called for a unified national response, while the Sudanese Congress Party condemned it as evidence of lost sovereignty without naming Egypt. The Darfur Victims Support Organisation held the Egyptian army fully responsible and appealed to the UN Security Council, describing it as the third such attack in a short period.

The accusations are sensitive because Egypt is a key backer of the Sudanese Armed Forces. Amjad Farid, political affairs adviser to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, confirmed on Thursday that Egyptian forces had targeted Sudanese miners near the border, in the first official acknowledgement from Khartoum. Egyptian authorities have previously accused Sudanese prospectors of crossing the international border to mine near a concession managed by an Egyptian company, while Sudanese accounts insist the mines lie wholly within Sudan.

The dispute sits atop a lucrative and chaotic gold economy. Sudan’s artisanal gold mining sector employs more than two million people, a figure that has surged since the civil war broke out in April 2023. Artisanal mining revenues surged in the first quarter of 2026, exceeding planned targets by 113 per cent, with record production surpassing 70 tonnes in recent years. Miners say Egyptian border guards have previously burned equipment, torched shelters and fired live ammunition to disperse workers.

The strikes land amid a sharply deepening war. The conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has triggered what the United Nations calls the world’s largest displacement crisis, with at least 59,000 people killed according to ACLED, though the true toll is believed to be far higher. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said drone strikes killed more than 1,000 civilians in Sudan in the first five months of 2026 alone. With Egyptian and de facto Sudanese authorities both withholding official accounts, families of the victims await any transparent investigation.