The 2024 Wad al-Noura Attack

Status boundary: The attack and major civilian toll are documented by the United Nations and independent news organizations. Exact totals and parts of the battlefield sequence remain disputed. This page attributes claims to their sources and does not convert organizational allegations into individual criminal guilt.

A village inside a widening war

Wad al-Noura is a farming community in Al Jazirah state, south of Khartoum. The region became a major front after the Rapid Support Forces seized Wad Madani in December 2023, extending the war between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces into an area that had sheltered displaced families and supplied food.

By June 2024, residents in several Jazirah villages had organized local defenses or lived near forces aligned with the army. That context matters to the competing accounts of the attack. It does not eliminate the duty of all parties to distinguish civilians and avoid indiscriminate or disproportionate force.

The June 5 attack

On June 5, the RSF attacked Wad al-Noura. The United Nations human-rights chief cited reports that the RSF used ground-based weapons in densely populated areas and fired on people inside the village. The UN humanitarian coordinator likewise referred to credible reports of heavy gunfire and explosive weapons in populated areas.

Local resistance committees said the village was attacked twice, surrounded and shelled. Images and video circulated after the assault showed rows of bodies prepared for burial. Independent access was severely limited, so responsible reporting treated some details and totals as claims requiring attribution.

Reuters and the Associated Press reported at least 100 deaths in the immediate aftermath. Later accounts carried higher local figures, including more than 150. This dossier uses “at least 100” as the conservative, contemporaneously corroborated floor and does not present a higher number as a settled final toll.

Children among the victims

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell reported that at least 35 children were killed and more than 20 injured. Women and older residents were also reported among those killed.

The child toll is not added to the overall figure; it is a subset of it. Keeping those numbers distinct prevents accidental inflation and reflects the way UNICEF presented its findings.

The RSF account and the civilian record

The RSF said it had attacked army and militia positions around the village and described the operation as a response to an imminent hostile move. It reported losses among its own fighters. That statement is part of the record and is not omitted.

It does not, however, answer the evidence of extensive civilian deaths. The UN Secretary-General condemned the attack reportedly carried out by the RSF, while the human-rights chief said the organization bore responsibility for attacks it conducts and called for accountability under international law.

Reporting also described villagers using arms in self-defense and military-aligned mobilization in the area. Presence of armed defenders does not establish that every person killed was a combatant, nor does it validate firing explosive weapons into populated locations.

Burials, injury and displacement

The immediate visual record showed a communal burial operation on a scale rarely documented in Jazirah at that point in the war. Dozens were injured, and residents fled toward other parts of Al Manaqil locality.

Contemporary reports also alleged looting after the assault. Because investigators did not publish a final judicial reconstruction identifying every participant, this page attributes the allegation rather than treating every reported act as an adjudicated fact.

Calls for an investigation

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Clementine Nkweta-Salami called for a thorough investigation and accountability. UN High Commissioner Volker Türk similarly demanded prompt, independent and transparent inquiries into unlawful killings.

Those calls demonstrate that the episode was not regarded as an ordinary, legally settled battlefield loss. They do not themselves constitute a criminal judgment. No reliable public source reviewed through September 2026 showed a completed prosecution identifying and convicting an individual for the Wad al-Noura attack.

Organizational attribution is not individual guilt

Multiple reliable sources attributed the assault to the RSF, and the RSF itself acknowledged an operation in the area while disputing its character. That supports describing the incident as an RSF attack.

Criminal responsibility requires more: evidence of who fired, who ordered the operation, what each accused person knew and which legal elements are proved. Without a final case addressing those questions, this archive does not name commanders or fighters as convicted perpetrators.

Why the case remains unresolved

The core event is not speculative. A village was attacked, a large number of people were killed and international officials documented grave civilian harm. The unresolved classification instead reflects the absence of final individual accountability, disagreement over the precise toll and incomplete public evidence about the full operational chain.

The record may change if an independent inquiry or court publishes findings. Until then, the page preserves the strongest established facts and the competing account without manufacturing closure.

Case timeline

• December 2023 — The RSF captures Wad Madani and expands control across parts of Al Jazirah state.
• 5 June 2024 — RSF forces attack Wad al-Noura; local groups report shelling, gunfire and mass civilian deaths.
• 6 June 2024 — Reuters and AP report at least 100 killed; UNICEF says at least 35 children died and more than 20 were injured.
• 6–7 June 2024 — UN officials and the Secretary-General condemn the attack and call for an investigation and accountability.
• August 2024 — Reuters places Wad al-Noura within a wider pattern of killings, looting and fragmented command in Jazirah.
• September 2026 — No final individual conviction for the attack is located in the reliable public record reviewed for this dossier.

Questions that remain

• What is the complete, independently verified list of people killed and injured?
• Which units and commanders planned and carried out each phase of the attack?
• Were military positions inside or immediately around the populated village, as the RSF claimed?
• Will a competent national or international body bring individual cases?

Editorial note

The page avoids graphic images, does not reproduce unverified victim lists and does not describe a reported massacre as a judicially proven war crime. Children are counted within—not in addition to—the reported overall toll.