KHARTOUM, April 9 (Xinhua) -- At least 56 people were killed and 107 injured in a drone strike on the town of Kutum in Sudan's North Darfur state, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and a medical source said Thursday.

The RSF said that the Sudanese army carried out the strike on Wednesday evening, targeting a social gathering. 56 civilians were killed, including 17 children, and 107 others were wounded, it added.

A medical source at Kutum's rural hospital told Xinhua that more than 40 bodies and dozens of injured had been recorded, with additional patients still arriving.

An eyewitness said the strike hit a wedding ceremony in the Al-Salama neighborhood, where a large crowd had gathered inside a house, contributing to the high number of casualties. Another resident said the drone destroyed the house hosting the celebration and damaged about four nearby homes.

The Sudanese Armed Forces have not commented yet.

Kutum, about 120 kilometers northwest of El Fasher, has been under RSF control since the early months of the conflict.

Drone use has increased across Sudan. On March 24, the United Nations said that more than 500 civilians -- mostly in Kordofan and Darfur -- were killed in drone strikes between January and mid-March 2026, warning that the growing use of drones was increasing civilian casualties in populated areas.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF since mid-April 2023 has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, according to international estimates. ■