The World Food Programme said two of its UN food aid trucks were destroyed in an aerial attack outside Dilling in Sudan’s South Kordofan state over the weekend, a strike that knocked out emergency supplies bound for people facing severe hunger in the country’s war-torn south.
The agency said the trucks were carrying 50 metric tonnes of food for delivery to Kadugli, the state capital. That shipment was intended to support people already facing emergency levels of hunger, including nearly 58,000 residents in Kadugli whom the WFP says it is helping.
The agency did not identify who carried out the attack. The incident occurred on Sunday, according to the WFP account reported Wednesday. The destroyed trucks were part of a humanitarian operation serving civilians in an area where access has become increasingly fragile as the conflict in Sudan intensifies.
Sudan’s war has pitted the national army against the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023 and has deepened the country’s humanitarian crisis. Aid groups estimate the conflict has killed more than 200,000 people and helped drive what has become the world’s largest hunger and displacement emergency. The United Nations says around 30 million people in Sudan need humanitarian assistance.
The WFP said attacks on aid workers and humanitarian operations must stop. The agency’s statement underscores how even clearly marked relief convoys remain vulnerable as drone and aerial attacks have grown more frequent in recent months. The United Nations has said more than 1,000 civilians have been killed in those strikes.
The loss of the trucks is significant not only because of the food destroyed, but because it interrupts a supply line aimed at one of Sudan’s most vulnerable populations. In a conflict marked by shifting front lines, damaged roads and repeated attacks on infrastructure, humanitarian agencies have struggled to move food into areas where shortages are already acute.
Dilling and Kadugli are both in South Kordofan, a region that has been affected by the wider war and by the practical challenge of reaching civilians trapped by insecurity. The WFP account suggests the aid was moving through a corridor that remains critical for emergency deliveries into the state.
With the responsible party still unidentified, the attack adds another unresolved episode to a conflict in which civilians, aid workers and supply chains continue to absorb the consequences of military escalation. For the WFP, the immediate result is straightforward: two trucks are gone, a planned delivery has been disrupted, and a fragile food pipeline has been damaged at a time when needs remain exceptionally high.
