KHARTOUM, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Drone attacks struck a transport truck and a school-health center complex in two separate Sudanese states this week, killing at least 69 people, medical sources and volunteers said Wednesday.

In the deadlier of the two strikes, a drone hit a civilian transport truck Tuesday in Abu Zabad, in West Kordofan state in southern Sudan, killing 52 people. Eyewitnesses said the truck was carrying roughly 90 passengers; the dead were mostly women, along with several men and children.

Survivors were taken to Abu Zabad's only functioning hospital and nearby facilities, where medical staff treated the injured under overcrowded conditions with limited supplies.

A second attack on Wednesday killed 17 people in Shukairi village, near Kosti in White Nile state in central Sudan. The dead included nine students, three teachers, four patients, and a health worker.

The Sudanese Doctors Network said the strike hit a school and a health center, calling it a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians and a violation of international law.

No group claimed responsibility for either strike. The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces did not immediately comment.

The RSF has intensified drone strikes on Kosti, an army-held city, over the past three days. Artillery shelling and drone attacks have also escalated across Kordofan, killing and wounding dozens and deepening what aid organizations have described as a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in mid-April 2023, has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions across the country. ■