Abyei market strike: local official reports 153 dead as UN verifies toll

 Conceptual illustration created for this report; it does not depict the actual market or attack. Drones struck Amiet Market in Abyei on Monday, October 19, and a fire spread to a nearby fuel depot. The market serves communities in the disputed border area between Sudan and South Sudan. Yohanna Akol Ngor, Abyei’s caretaker information minister, told the [Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/f36b3c7d15be6b48efdc35eed7219d6d) and [Reuters](https://theprint.in/world/sudanese-drone-attack-killed-over-150-people-in-abyei-market-official-says/3077194/) on Tuesday that the death toll had risen to 153, from an earlier count of 73. The [UN’s October 20 briefing](https://transcripts.un.org/en/briefing/sg/2026-10-20) gave an initial figure of at least 28 civilians killed in attacks at Amiet and nearby Todach, with others injured or missing. It said the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) was still verifying casualties. These are reports from different stages and sites; the final toll has not been independently established. Responsibility and the intended target remain disputed. Abyei’s administration and South Sudan’s government blamed Sudan’s armed forces. A Sudanese military officer told AP that the army had struck fuel tankers it said were bound for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF); he claimed those killed were RSF members or people involved in fuel smuggling. AP could not independently verify the target or the identities of those killed. Médecins Sans Frontières said more than 20 wounded people, including critical cases and patients with burns, reached Ameth Bek Hospital. UNISFA deployed medical staff, firefighting equipment and quick-reaction forces. South Sudan said it summoned Sudan’s ambassador to protest. The next key step is UNISFA’s casualty verification and accounting for those still missing. Amiet is a major trading hub in Abyei, an oil-rich territory whose status has remained unresolved since South Sudan’s independence. The strike shows how Sudan’s civil war is affecting a border area and civilian commerce far from the main front lines.