An air strike near Chad's border with Sudan killed at least 12 people and injured seven on August 27, according to a Chadian security source. Chad accused Sudan's army of carrying out the attack, an allegation Khartoum said should not have been made before an independent investigation.
The Chadian source said the strike hit a fuel market where the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary organisation fighting Sudan's army, refuel. The supplied report did not give the victims' identities or establish whether they were civilians, combatants or workers at the market. It also did not specify the exact location relative to the international border.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry expressed surprise that Chad had blamed its forces before what it called a professional and independent inquiry into the incident. The ministry said the Sudanese military was performing its duty to defend the country's sovereignty and security while respecting neighbouring states and not targeting their territory. That statement amounted to a rejection of Chad's accusation, though the excerpt did not describe any alternative explanation for the strike.
The US embassy in Khartoum also blamed Sudan's army for recent attacks on Chad and condemned them. Its position added diplomatic weight to the Chadian allegation but did not substitute for the investigation Sudan requested.
The latest incident followed a separate air strike that Chad said hit a military convoy more than 100 kilometres inside its territory in the eastern Ennedi region a week earlier. Chad's army reported no Chadian casualties in that attack. Facing the threat from drones, authorities raised the alert level in the area to its highest setting. A local source said Chad deployed about 100 armoured vehicles and signal-jamming trucks near the eastern town of Tine, close to Sudan.
The border tensions are tied to Sudan's civil war between the regular army and the RSF. The conflict has lasted more than three years and displaced millions of people. Sudan's army has previously accused Chad of siding with the RSF, while Chad has become a major destination for people fleeing the fighting. Nearly one million displaced Sudanese people have crossed into Chad, where they face a water crisis.
The reported strike risks widening the consequences of Sudan's war across a frontier already under military pressure and humanitarian strain. Establishing who launched it, where it landed and who was killed will be central to judging the incident and preventing a further deterioration between the neighbouring countries. The evidence did not say whether a joint inquiry, border-monitoring mission or diplomatic meeting had been arranged.
