The World Health Organisation on Monday said more than 100 people, including dozens of children, were killed in attacks on a kindergarten in Sudan.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the latest attacks on December 4 began with repeated strikes on a kindergarten in South Kordofan state.

“Disturbingly, paramedics and responders came under attack as they tried to move the injured from the kindergarten to the hospital,” he said.

Sudan’s foreign ministry condemned the attacks that it said were carried out by the Rapid Support Forces using drones.

The WHO database said heavy weapons were used and that 114 people, including 63 children, were killed and 35 wounded.

A WHO spokesperson said the toll combines casualties from the kindergarten strikes, the transfer of patients to the adjacent rural hospital, and attacks at the facility itself.

Most children were killed in the initial strike, while parents and medics were later among the victims, he added.

Health facilities in Sudan have repeatedly come under attack near the frontlines of the country’s 2-1/2-year civil war. A massacre also occurred in October in the city of al-Fashir, Reuters reported.

The RSF did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It has previously denied harming civilians and said that it will hold its forces to account for any violations.

Survivors have since been moved to another hospital, and urgent appeals are being made for medical support and blood donations, Mr Tedros said.

(Reuters/NAN)