A drone attack in southeastern Sudan has killed dozens of people who had already fled their homes.

The strike hit Wad al-Mahi province in Blue Nile state on Friday, just outside a camp for displaced people, Al Jazeera reported. The local governor, Mahjoub Al-Sheikh, said 26 women and four children were killed. Dozens more were wounded.

The governor blamed the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, the paramilitary group fighting Sudan's army. He called the attack "cowardly" and said the drone was launched from "inside Ethiopia," Al Jazeera reported.

The victims were near an informal gold mining site. Women there earn a daily wage by sorting gold nuggets from dirt dug by men, often with chemicals and their bare hands.

A local medical group gave a slightly higher toll, saying 31 people were killed and 19 injured, Anadolu Agency reported.

Sudan has accused Ethiopia of hosting RSF fighters and bases, which Ethiopia denies. Local sources say the border is a key supply line for the RSF, Al Jazeera reported.

The war has spread to a new front. The RSF has pushed toward Damazin, the state capital. That forces the army to defend both Blue Nile and the Kordofan region, where a year of drone strikes has left the two sides stuck.

Sudan's civil war began in April 2023. Aid workers estimate it has killed more than 200,000 people and created one of the world's worst hunger and displacement crises. Nearly 100,000 people have been displaced in Blue Nile state this year alone, according to the United Nations.

What we know: about 30 people were killed in the drone strike.
What we don't: how many of the dozens wounded will survive.