About the Incident

Impact site: Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital, Al Jabalain, White Nile State
Date: 2 April 2026
Time: Likely around 11:00 Sudan local time
Location (general): Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital, White Nile State
Location (exact): 12.5929, 32.8071
Casualties: At least 14 people killed, of whom seven were medical staff (according to Médecins Sans Frontières), and others injured
Incident type: Likely drone strike
Possible responsible party: Undetermined; government sources blamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which denied responsibility

Introduction

Dr Hamed Suleiman, the director of Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital, was reportedly performing surgery when a strike hit the hospital and killed him along with other medical staff and civilians, according to Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health. The strike took place on the morning of 2 April 2026 and was reportedly carried out by a drone. At least one video filmed at the hospital after the strike showed multiple casualties. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) stated that "at least" 14 people were killed in the strike, including seven medical staff. This incident was notable because it reportedly impacted the only healthcare facility serving the population in the area at the time. The day before this strike, there was a report that a pharmacy warehouse in Kosti, White Nile State, had also been struck.

This investigation examines where and when the strike took place, what it damaged, who was harmed, and who may be responsible. Sudanese Archive identified four social media posts purportedly containing images or videos of the aftermath that could be examined in detail. All four were geolocated to the hospital grounds, meaning their location was identified by matching visible features to satellite imagery. They show significant structural damage to two neighbouring buildings, including an area consistent with an operating theatre. Shadow analysis of one video, together with the account of a hospital staff member reported by the Associated Press, indicate that the strike likely took place around 11:00 local time (Central Africa Time - CAT).

Several sources, including Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health, claimed that a drone carried out the attack, and blamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF denied responsibility. The town of Al Jabalain was under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) at the time of the strike. No munition remnants were identified in the examinable content, so the weapon used could not be confirmed, and responsibility could not be established through weapons analysis.

Content Warning

This investigation contains graphic content, including descriptions of the killing and injury of individuals, visuals of injured or deceased casualties, and hyperlinks to further extremely graphic materials. Sources that contain graphic audiovisual content may be redacted or accompanied by warning notes. If you would like to request access to an unredacted version, please email us at requests@sudanesearchive.org.

Methodology

Sudanese Archive conducted an investigation into the incident based on:

Collecting, preserving and analysing 18 digital records, including news reports, statements, images and videos posted on social media and elsewhere online.
Searching for keywords such as "Jabalain", "hospital" and "strike" in both Arabic and English across platforms including Google, Facebook, X and Telegram.
Checking local Facebook pages for posts from the date of the incident.
Checking the official social media channels of both the RSF and the SAF for statements about the incident.
Determining the location and time of the incident, and examining the damage, the possible munitions used, allegations of responsibility and reported casualty figures.

Initial content, primarily consisting of news reports and text-based claims, was identified within Mnemonic's Sudanese Archive. Text-based descriptive content was found, and four posts were identified containing visually examinable content, meaning posts with images or videos that could be examined and analysed for information relating to location, timing and damage.

This investigation is based on multiple stages of analysis of open source materials, providing the Sudanese Archive team with information related to the date, time and location of the incident, as well as potential casualties and potential perpetrators. For more information about Sudanese Archive's research methodology, please visit our website.

Visual Open Source Materials

The four posts below contain the images and videos used in this investigation, all publicly available online at the time of collection. They are referred to throughout the report as Posts 1-4, and were analysed to establish the location and time of the strike, the damage caused, and the casualties visible.

Post 1

Link: https://www.facebook.com/reel/878491591866923

Date and time posted: 2 April 2026, 18:12 local time
Description: Video depicting the aftermath of the incident.
Source: Waqiena TV, a news outlet
Original source: Waqiena TV, a news outlet

Picture 1.jpg

Post 2

Link: [GRAPHIC FROM THE START] https://x.com/HaniElfatihI/status/2039722958818558298

Date and time posted: 2 April 2026, 17:13 local time
Description: Extremely graphic video depicting the immediate aftermath of the incident, including both wounded and dead people.
Source: @HaniElfatihI on X, an activist account which associates itself with the SAF
Original source: First hand witness

Picture 2.jpg

Post 3

Link: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0GPirN19qe5bQFB3ZApgcY9g7472QTbs2WWFajYFrKptRnfy6oXX8Hdskpd9r36Rfl&id=61555263513230

Date and time posted: 3 April 2026, 08:41 local time
Description: Twelve images depicting damage at the hospital and a tour by senior leaders including the Governor of White Nile State.
Source: White Nile TV, a news outlet
Original source: White Nile TV, a news outlet

Picture 3.jpg

Post 4

Link: [GRAPHIC] https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0y4mcKqBZMKKxKKUmY2xR8g1snoXLGn6oYcnSzsUEh4dDaKbKXJbDoFYKCByxYu2Ll&id=61588205726839

Date and time posted: 2 April 2026, 16:27 local time
Description: Five images, depicting a person in blue clothing on a table, stretcher or bed who may be a casualty; and depicting damage at the hospital.
Source: Nabil Muhy Al - Din, a social media user
Original source: Unknown

Picture 4.jpg — *Redactions by Sudanese Archive.*

Impact Site

The impact site is Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital, located in the town of Al Jabalain in White Nile State, at or near coordinates 12.5929, 32.8071. The hospital was reportedly the only healthcare facility serving the population in the area at the time, and includes an operating theatre and a maternity ward, according to MSF.

What Happened and When?

This section sets out what open sources reported about the strike and examines these accounts against the collected images and videos.

Geolocation

Geolocation is the process of establishing where images and videos were filmed, by comparing features visible in them, such as buildings, walls and roofs, with other sources such as satellite imagery.

Post 1 was geolocated to the grounds of Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital, in the vicinity of coordinates 12.5929, 32.8071.

Picture 5.jpg — *Top: Panoramic from* *Post 1* *at 01:29. Bottom: Satellite image of Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital (credit: Google/Airbus). Annotations by Sudanese Archive.*

Picture 6.jpg — *Top: Still from* *Post 1* *at 00:00. Bottom: Satellite image of Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital (credit: Google/Airbus). Annotations by Sudanese Archive.*

Picture 7.jpg — *Top: Still from* *Post 1* *at 00:05. Bottom: Satellite image of Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital (credit: Google/Airbus). Annotations by Sudanese Archive. Note, the object outlined in red appears to be a fountain.*

Co-location

A comparison of Post 1 with all other visual open source materials listed above demonstrates that they depict the same location, namely Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital.

Comparison with Post 2

Post 2 depicts a matching building seen in Post 1, at coordinates 12.5930, 32.8071.

Picture 8.jpg — *Top: Still from* *Post 2* *[GRAPHIC] at 02:35. Bottom: Still from* *Post 1* *at 01:29.*

Comparison with Post 3

Post 3 comprises a set of images which depict what appear to be a tour of the hospital by both civilian and military leaders. Whilst not every image depicting the interior space of damaged rooms could be matched to a reference image, all images which depict the exterior aspects of buildings were geolocated to the hospital.

Further, the context of this post strongly indicates all the images are from the tour of the hospital. The source which posted these images is named the White Nile TV Alternative Page and appears to be an established news outlet which regularly depicts tours by senior leaders.

Picture 9.jpg — *Top: Still from* *Post 1* *at 01:29. Bottom: Image from* *Post 3.*

Comparison with Post 4

Post 4 consists of five images, of which three could be matched to locations depicted in either Post 1 or Post 2.

Picture 10.jpg — *Left: Image from* *Post 4* *[GRAPHIC]. Right: Still from* *Post 2* *[GRAPHIC] at 02:09. Redaction by Sudanese Archive.*

Picture 11.jpg — *Left: Image from* *Post 4* *[GRAPHIC]. Right: Still from* *Post 2* *[GRAPHIC] at 00:26. Note the matching debris, including bricks and poles, above the dark stain. Redaction by Sudanese Archive.*

Picture 12 (1).jpg — *Left: Cropped still from* *Post 1* *at 01:29. Right: Image from* *Post 4* *[GRAPHIC]. Note the pattern of marks on the wall immediately below the window, outlined in red. Annotations and cropping by Sudanese Archive.*

One image from Post 4 could not be geolocated. It depicts a person with blue clothes on a table, stretcher or bed, with several people surrounding them. Its inclusion with other images which have been geolocated to Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital indicates it may be from this incident.

Date and time

Having established the location, this section examines when the strike took place, using witness accounts and the direction of shadows visible in one of the videos.

All sources, including statements from the SAF-led government and MSF, agree that the incident occurred on 2 April 2026. In a report by the Associated Press (AP), a senior staff member at the hospital, Salah Moussa, stated that he heard the sound of explosions at around 11:00. The media outlet al Rakoba reported that the strike took place during a vaccination campaign.

Post 2 [GRAPHIC] includes a video which appears to have been filmed shortly after the incident occurred. In this video people can be seen walking around the hospital, filming what appear to be multiple casualties as well as pools of blood. The presence of the casualties, the presence of blood which does not yet appear to have dried and the lack of other people at the scene indicate that this video was likely filmed shortly after the incident occurred.

Within the Post 2 video, the shadows from the building are relatively clear, including a shadow cast by a roof pillar. The SunCalc tool can be used to compare visible direction of shadows in available geolocated images and videos with the calculated direction of shadows for similarly positioned objects at a given location, date and time range.

Picture 13.jpg — *Left:* *Suncalc* *simulated shadow for 11:47 at this location and date. Right: Shadow cast by roof pillar as seen in* *Post 2* *[GRAPHIC] at 02:22, marked by red line. Annotations by Sudanese Archive.*

Based on the identified geographic location and the stated date, the visible direction of the shadow cast by the roof pillar seen in Post 2 indicates that the video was filmed during a time range of 11:30 - 12:00. Outside of this time window, the shadows seen in the Post 2 video would be visibly inconsistent with what would be expected at that time of day.

As such, the explosion which caused this incident must have occurred prior to 12:00. As discussed above, the context of the Post 2 [GRAPHIC] video indicates it was filmed not long after the incident occurred.

Considering the factors discussed above, and the reported statement from an apparent first hand witness, it appears likely that this incident occurred around 11:00 on 2 April 2026.

Casualties

This section examines who was harmed in the strike, drawing on the one video that shows casualties and on figures reported by different sources.

Within the footage of Post 2 [GRAPHIC], seven apparent casualties can be seen. Some clearly have major injuries and there is a significant amount of blood visible. All of these people are lying motionless. All these apparent casualties are wearing civilian clothes and no weapons are visible. One of the people is wearing blue clothing which may be consistent with medical scrubs. Another may be a woman, based on the clothing and jewelry worn. Three other of the apparent casualties visibly appear to be men.

MSF noted that “at least” 14 people were killed in this strike, of which seven were medical staff. The Emergency Lawyers Group noted “dozens of civilian deaths and injuries, including two doctors”. The SAF-affiliated Federal Ministry of Health noted that this incident resulted in “the martyrdom of ten medical and administrative staff… including Dr. Hamed Suleiman, the hospital’s general manager… in addition to injuring 22 civilians.” The media outlet al Rakoba reported that this incident resulted in the deaths of “a doctor, a nurse, and 12 children, in addition to injuring a large number of people”. It also claimed that this incident occurred during a vaccination campaign.

Crater or munition remnants

No munition remnants were identified in any visual content. No clear craters were identified, although two points of impact were identified (see: Damage Caused).

Damage Caused

A review of the examinable content showed that two buildings which are immediately next to each other sustained significant structural damage.

Picture 14 (1).jpg — *Significant structural damage visible in examinable content overlaid on a satellite image of Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital (credit: Airbus/Google). Annotations by Sudanese Archive.*

Picture 15.jpg — *North damaged building as seen in* *Post 3*.

Picture 16.jpg — *South damaged building as seen in* *Post 3. Note the writing on the middle doorway reading “الحوادث” (Accidents), marked by the red box. Annotations by Sudanese Archive.*

Writing visible above one of the doors of the south building which was impacted reads “الحوادث” (Accidents).

A statement from MSF noted that the locations hit included the maternity ward and operating theater. White Nile TV stated in Post 3 that the “operating room and the emergency room” were hit. Images from Post 3 and video from Post 1 depict an area clad with white tiles and containing lights consistent with an operating theater. Damage visible in this interior space matched that shown in an image from Post 4 [GRAPHIC] geolocated earlier as being located in the north building.

Picture 17.jpg — *Interior of the north building as seen in a still from* *Post 1* *(top) at 00:39, and* *Post 3* *(bottom). Annotations by Sudanese Archive.*

In the visual content related to this incident, the two locations have visibly heavily damaged corrugated metal roofs, with some panels blown off the buildings. At the south building, part of the brick wall has been heavily damaged, whilst at the north building, a section of the external brick wall has been completely demolished, although the metal frame of the building is still intact.

Picture 18.jpg — *South building as seen in* *Post 3. Note the damaged brick wall marked by the red box. Annotation by Sudanese Archive.*

Picture 19.jpg — *North building as seen in* *Post 4* *[GRAPHIC]. Note the demolished wall marked by the red box. Annotation by Sudanese Archive.*

Picture 20.jpg — *Interior of the north building as seen in* *Post 3. Note that the roof has been removed, but most of the internal walls and internal frame are still standing. Note the fragmentation marks on the top of the interior walls.*

This level of damage indicates a mid-sized weapon system, significantly larger than a hand-grenade but smaller than a munition such as an air-dropped 250 lb bomb. This could include systems such as shoulder-fired rockets, artillery, and air-dropped munitions.

A review of news for this location and time period indicate that the hospital was within a SAF-held area and was well outside the range of shoulder-launched weapons from areas controlled by other armed groups.

Statements, including those from MSF, news outlets, the Federal Ministry of Health and the NGO Emergency Lawyers Group, claimed that this attack was carried out by a drone.

Both the RSF and SAF employ UAV systems which would be able to deploy a payload of this size. These include the Wing Loong II, FH-95 and possibly the Sunflower 200 as used by the RSF; and the Bayraktar TB2, and possibly the Mohajer-6 and Zajil-3 as used by the SAF.

Whilst the damage visible in the examinable content is consistent with a strike from one of these systems, no weapon systems or munitions were identified in any open source imagery, meaning confirmation of the weapon system used is not possible for this incident.

Responses

The Rapid Support Forces denied responsibility for the attack, stating on their official website that this incident was part of “a staged and orchestrated scenario, fabricated by elements affiliated with the SAF and its battalions in southern White Nile”. The SAF-affiliated Federal Ministry of Health blamed the RSF for the attack. The White Nile State office of the New Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement released a statement via White Nile TV, accusing the RSF of perpetrating the attack.

Conclusion

On 2 April 2026, prior to 12:00, a strike hit two locations in the Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital. This strike affected two buildings, including those containing the accident department, an operating room and possibly the maternity ward. Whilst casualty counts varied, examinable visual content depicted at least seven people who appear to be either wounded or dead. MSF stated that “at least 14” people were killed, including seven medical staff.

Several sources claimed that the strike was carried out by a drone, and the damage is consistent with this, but the weapon system used could not be confirmed. Government-aligned sources blamed the RSF for the strike; the RSF denied responsibility. While it was not possible to establish responsibility through analysis of the weapon system used, due to the lack of munition remnants, it is notable that the hospital was providing services to an area within SAF control.

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Strike on Al Jabalain Teaching Hospital

Table Of Contents

INVESTIGATIONS