At least 70 people were killed after a drone strike targeted the last functioning hospital in the besieged capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state late Friday, according to local officials and the World Health Organization.

(Reuters) - The head of the World Health Organization called on Saturday for an end to attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Sudan after a drone attack on a hospital in Sudan's North Darfur region killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens.

The WHO chief has urged a halt on attacks against healthcare facilities in Sudan after a devastating drone strike on a hospital in North Darfur killed over 70 people. The ongoing conflict between Sudan's army and RSF is causing widespread humanitarian crises and ethnic violence in the region.

The head of the World Health Organization called on Saturday for an end to attacks on health care workers and facilities in Sudan after a drone attack on a hospital in Sudan's North Darfur region killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens.

Local officials have attributed the drone attack that killed 70 people to the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group

The RSF did not immediately acknowledge the attack in El Fasher, which is over 800 kilometers southwest of Khartoum.

The Sahel region is a geographical belt in Africa that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, between the Sahara Desert in the north and the Savannah in the south. It is characterised by challenging environmental crises and conflicts.

In Sudan, an estimated 70 people were killed by a drone strike on a hospital in North Darfur’s besieged city of El Fasher. The World Health Organization says the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital — the last functioning hospital in the area — was “packed with patients receiving care” when the attack occurred.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Saturday for an end to attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Sudan after a drone attack on a hospital in Sudan’s North Darfur region killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens.

Sudan's army chief visited on Sunday his headquarters in the capital Khartoum, two days after forces recaptured the complex, which paramilitaries had encircled since the war erupted in April 2023.

Seventy patients and companions died in a drone strike on one of the last functioning hospitals in western Sudan's Darfur, the region's governor said.

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital, center, in El Fasher, Sudan on Jan 25. (AP)