Emergency Lawyers, a rights group based in the Sudanese capital, said jets targeted artisanal miners at popular gold mining sites in River Nile state on Saturday. The group's statement said the strikes destroyed camps and excavation pits with people inside, and added that the death toll was provisional and could rise.
The Paris-based Sudan Tribune reported, citing a survivor, that the number of casualties could far exceed the figure given by Emergency Lawyers, with many more injured. Eyewitnesses said the attack began around 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT), with aircraft firing more than five missiles directly at the miners' camps.
Emergency Lawyers noted previous alleged attacks in the area and said the strikes represented a violation of Sudan's sovereign territory and demonstrated the government's lack of control over the region. "The deliberate targeting of unarmed civilians violates international humanitarian law and the right to life," the group said on Sunday. "These acts may constitute war crimes."
Cairo has previously faced accusations of deadly strikes on gold prospectors as part of a crackdown on illicit activity along its southern border. In June, the Sudan Tribune reported claims that Egyptian forces had used drones and artillery to target artisanal mining sites in the same region, after sporadic incidents of border guards burning equipment and firing live ammunition to disperse workers. Days later, Egypt's border agency announced it and the military had begun a security campaign along the border.
Neither the Egyptian government nor Sudan's de facto authorities have commented on Saturday's strikes.