Cairo: At least 21 people, including women and children, were killed in renewed fighting around Kauda in Sudan’s South Kordofan state, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.
The medical group said the latest attack took place on Thursday in the Debi and Luweri areas of Kauda. It accused forces from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North, or SPLM N, of carrying out the attack and said several other people were injured.
The medical group also said many civilians were forced to flee their homes. The reported death toll and the circumstances of the attack have not been independently verified.
The fighting involves the SPLM N faction led by Abdelaziz al Hilu and armed members of the Otoro community in the Nuba Mountains. The current violence is rooted in disputes over land and boundary demarcation between Nuba communities.
The conflict has added another layer to Sudan’s wider war, which began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.
Al Hilu’s SPLM N faction has aligned itself with the RSF. In February 2025, it joined other political and armed groups in an alliance that signed a charter to establish a parallel authority in Sudan. The alliance later announced a leadership structure headed by RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, with al Hilu as his deputy.
The SPLM N has denied accusations that its forces are targeting the Otoro community because of its ethnic identity. The movement has said its military operations are directed at people it considers to have rebelled against its authority.
The latest fighting follows months of violence in and around Kauda.
The dispute developed into armed clashes in March after disagreements over the demarcation of land between the Shawaya and Otoro communities. The conflict has also been linked to competition over land and artisanal gold mining.
On May 13, the Sudan Doctors Network reported that more than 61 people, including nine children and five women, had been killed in clashes involving SPLM N forces and an Otoro armed group in Kauda.
On August 25, the medical network reported another 27 deaths, including four children, in attacks in two areas of South Kordofan. It accused SPLM N forces of carrying out those attacks and targeting civilians on an ethnic basis.
SPLM N later said it had regained control of Kauda, its stronghold in the Nuba Mountains. The movement denied allegations that its forces had killed Otoro civilians.
On August 19, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo announced a ceasefire initiative aimed at stopping the fighting between the SPLM N and Otoro forces. Al Hilu did not commit to the initiative, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project.
ACLED said SPLM N forces subsequently attacked 10 Otoro villages between August 20 and 26, killing at least 27 civilians and displacing hundreds. It said it had recorded at least 158 deaths in 49 incidents involving infighting and attacks on civilians in Kauda since the violence began in March.
The 158 figure is a cumulative figure recorded by ACLED and should not be confused with the 21 deaths reported in the latest attack.
The violence has also affected Dilling, another important town in South Kordofan.
The Sudan Doctors Network said five people, including a child, were killed and others injured in artillery shelling in Dilling on Friday. The medical group accused SPLM N forces of attacking residential areas and civilian facilities.
The Dilling attack was a separate incident from the fighting around Kauda.
Dilling has remained a major conflict area in South Kordofan. The city was under siege by the RSF and SPLM N for nearly two years before the Sudanese army announced in January that it had reopened the road to the city. Artillery shelling and drone attacks have continued despite changes in access to the city.
The continuing violence is worsening an already severe humanitarian situation in South Kordofan. Fighting has displaced civilians, disrupted farming and increased pressure on food supplies and humanitarian services.
ACLED has warned that continued clashes around Kauda could draw more Nuba clans into the conflict and deepen divisions across South Kordofan. Communities in Heiban are already facing emergency levels of food insecurity.
The full scale of the latest casualties and displacement remains unclear because access to the affected areas is limited. Independent verification of reports from Kauda and Dilling is also difficult.
The latest attacks show how local disputes over land and authority are becoming increasingly connected to Sudan’s wider war, creating new risks for civilians in the Nuba Mountains.