A Badr Airlines jet from Cairo had just landed at Khartoum International Airport on May 4, the first passenger flight of its kind in three years, when drones came in. Dabanga reported four of them, aimed at the airport and nearby targets including Obeid Khatim Street, southern Khartoum and the El Murkhiyat military base in Omdurman. It was the first drone strike on the airport since October. Airport workers said the main terminal was not hit.
Middle East Eye counted five drone attacks and said one drone was intercepted before it reached the airport, crashing in an eastern Khartoum neighborhood. Flights were halted.
Who Sudan blames
The Rapid Support Forces were suspected of the attack. Sudan’s army went further. Its spokesperson told reporters there was “conclusive evidence” that UAE-made drones from the Bahir Dar airport area in Ethiopia struck Khartoum targets, the airport included, according to France 24. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was more careful. “If we confirm following investigations that the drones came from Ethiopia, we will take the necessary steps to keep Sudanese land and the Sudanese nation protected, in coordination with the international community,” he said.
Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem said: “Ethiopia and the UAE have repeatedly practised these violations against Sudan, and we have the right to react.” Ethiopia called the accusations “baseless.” The UAE described them as “unfounded accusations and deliberate propaganda.”
Damage and the flight schedule
A civil aviation authority source told Middle East Eye that flights had been stopped “for security reasons” and that the damage was minor and repairable. Until then, the source said, Khartoum had handled local flights, with international traffic routed through Port Sudan. The authority had upgraded the airport so that it could take direct international flights, which the government said were due to begin on May 4.
The UN World Food Programme said its staff were safe and its operations unaffected. A UN aircraft had first landed at the airport in February 2026 after about three years without one, which is why aid agencies watch it closely.
By May 7, Sudan Tribune reported, the schedule was moving again. Sudanair said it would resume Port Sudan to Khartoum flights the following Saturday, and announced direct pilgrim transport to Medina from May 17. Prime Minister Kamel Adris promised a return to normal operations at Khartoum International Airport at full capacity, after being briefed on efforts to reopen airspace. Qatar Airways, meanwhile, finished security and operational audits at Port Sudan International Airport ahead of a possible return to Sudan.
Sources
- Drone strike on Khartoum airport 'first in 7 months', aid ops not affected
- Sudan's Burhan confronts UAE and Ethiopia over Khartoum airport drone strikes
- Resumption of Khartoum Airport operations and Sudanair flights (Sudan Tribune, Arabic, translated)
- Ethiopia and Sudan accuse each other of attacks (France 24)
