Air strikes seem to have killed dozens of people digging for gold in a remote stretch of desert near Sudan’s border with Egypt. At least 72 civilians who had prospected for gold died in strikes on Saturday, according to Emergency Lawyers, a rights group based in Khartoum, as reported by BBC News and DW on Sunday, October 11. Al Jazeera, citing rights groups, puts the injured at more than 50.

The location carries its own dispute. BBC News reports that, according to Emergency Lawyers, jets targeted artisanal miners at popular gold mining sites in Sudan’s River Nile state. DW places the attack south of the Halayeb triangle, east of the River Nile, in rugged, mountainous territory that the rights group says lies within Sudan. DW notes that Egypt and Sudan both claim the Halayeb triangle, an area known for mining and the gold trade, along with other illicit goods and human trafficking.

Who flew the jets remains unconfirmed. DW reports that Emergency Lawyers accused the Egyptian air force. “The repeated attacks on the gold- and mineral-rich border regions reflect a desire by Egyptian authorities to expand and assert control over Sudan’s natural resources,” the group said, according to DW. Al Jazeera says no group has claimed responsibility. BBC News says neither the Egyptian government nor the de facto Sudanese authorities had commented. DW adds that Egypt has yet to comment on these strikes but has previously admitted conducting a “large-scale operation” against illegal gold mining within its borders.

Emergency Lawyers framed the strikes as a possible crime. “The deliberate targeting of unarmed civilians violates international humanitarian law and the right to life,” it said in a statement on Sunday, according to BBC News. “These acts may constitute war crimes.” The BBC reports that the group called its death toll provisional and said it could rise, and that the group described the strikes as a violation of Sudan’s sovereign territory and a sign of the government’s lack of control over the region.

Witness accounts suggest a larger toll. BBC News reports that the Paris-based Sudan Tribune said deaths could far exceed the rights group’s figure, citing a survivor who said many more people suffered injuries. Eyewitnesses told the Sudan Tribune that the attack began around 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT) and that aircraft fired more than five missiles directly at the miners’ camps, destroying them and excavation pits with people still inside, the BBC reports. One survivor told the AFP news agency that thousands of people worked at the site when the strikes hit, according to DW: “After the air strike, people scattered. Some people came to Al-Ansary [gold] market, others went in the other direction. That’s why no one knows exactly how many were killed.”

The Sudan Doctors Network warned on Facebook of an expected increase in casualties “due to the severity of some injuries and the difficulties in accessing medical care and essential services in the region,” DW reports. DW adds that the remote location makes independent verification difficult.

The strikes follow a pattern from earlier this year. DW calls Saturday’s attack the second of its kind in 2026: in June, air strikes on mining sites in the same border area came before a large-scale Egyptian security operation, in which authorities arrested hundreds of people, including foreigners, on accusations of illegal gold mining and smuggling. BBC News reports that the Sudan Tribune carried claims in June that Egyptian forces used drones and artillery against artisanal mining sites in the region, killing several, and that Egypt’s border agency soon after announced a sweeping security campaign against illegal migration, drug smuggling and illegal mining. Egypt’s border force said in June that it had seized 86 tonnes of gold ore, according to the BBC.

Gold sits at the center of the tension. BBC News reports that Sudan’s civil war has fueled a surge in artisanal mining, often risky work done by civilians with rudimentary tools and without official permission, particularly near the borders. DW reports that the war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed more than 200,000 people, that the RSF has funded its operations by smuggling gold, and that, according to the UK think tank Chatham House, as much as 60% of unofficial gold exports end up in Egypt. DW notes that Egypt backs al-Burhan yet treats the war on its border as a security threat. Any response from Cairo or Port Sudan seems likely to shape how the toll and the blame get settled.