A drone attack by Sudan’s paramilitary forces has killed 41 people in the country’s Blue Nile region bordering Ethiopia, a rights group has said.

The strike by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted a camp for displaced people in the state’s Abu Shandi area on Friday, Emergency Lawyers said.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said it was “appalled by horrifying reports”. It said initial reports suggested most of the casualties were women and children.

The Sudanese army and paramilitary forces including the RSF have been locked in a power struggle since 2023, a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than 14 million from their homes.

It has also created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with millions of people needing medical help.

The army controls much of Sudan’s central and eastern regions, while the RSF is headquartered in the western region of Darfur and also controls areas in the south.

Both sides have been accused of using drone attacks.

Ocha said in a statement that the area reportedly struck on Friday had been “under sustained atttack in recent weeks, displacing thousands of civilians and exposing many more to grave harm”.