Sudan army chief orders probe into border airstrike that killed 72

Sudan's de facto leader and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan attends an event marking the 72nd anniversary of the Sudanese Army Day at the Khartoum State Legislative Council in Khartoum on August 15, 2026. [AFP]

Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Monday ordered a probe into what he called a "painful incident" near the Egyptian border, where an airstrike hit a sprawling gold mining site two days earlier.

The Emergency Lawyers, a rights group documenting abuses in the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), said the strike in the mountainous Jabal al-Uqaydat mining area on Saturday killed 72 people, and accused Egypt of carrying it out.

AFP could not independently verify the claim and Egypt has issued no official comment.

A witness at the mine had described seeing a plane carry out several strikes on Saturday morning, sparking a panic at the site.

In a statement on Monday, the Transitional Sovereignty Council, which Burhan heads as army chief, said he had formed a fact-finding committee comprising prosecutors, judicial officials and security representatives "to investigate the circumstances of the incident" and "submit a report on the results".

The council added that Sudanese and Egyptian authorities "had remained in contact" since the incident to determine what happened.

In a phone call with his Sudanese counterpart on Monday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stressed the "mutual respect that binds the two brotherly nations", including respect for each state's "territorial integrity and safety of its territory and borders".

The strike occurred in a rugged, mineral-rich border region that stretches for hundreds of kilometres and includes the disputed Halayeb Triangle, a resource-rich area claimed by both Sudan and Egypt.

'Unacceptable'

The war in Sudan has killed more than 200,000 people and created a deep humanitarian crisis that has pushed many into the dangerous gold mining industry, which fuels both sides' war efforts.

Despite being one of Burhan's closest regional allies, Egypt views the war along its 1,200-kilometre border with Sudan as a major threat to its security.

East of the Nile, the porous frontier has long served as a route for gold smuggling, illicit trade and human trafficking, which Egypt has tried to stem, including by using mass deportations.

Amjad Farid, Burhan's adviser for foreign relations, earlier condemned Saturday's attack as an "unjustified and unacceptable crime".

In a post on X, he said there were many ways to enforce the law and address "border violations", but that "the use of airstrikes against civilians cannot be one of them", particularly when communication channels remained open.

The attack is the second reported strike this year on Jabal al-Uqaydat. In June, airstrikes reportedly carried out by Egypt killed 23 workers at the same informal mine.

At the time, the Egyptian military did not claim responsibility but said it had conducted a "large-scale operation" against illegal gold mining within its borders.