Egypt's military on Monday said it was carrying out an operation against illegal mining along its border with Sudan, after a rights group accused Cairo of launching an airstrike that killed dozens of Sudanese miners at a remote desert site.
Emergency Lawyers, a group that documents abuses in the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces , said a strike on Saturday killed 72 miners at Jabal al-Uqaydat, a sprawling gold-mining area in the mountains near the disputed border.
The group blamed the strike on the Egyptian air force, a claim AFP could not independently verify.
A witness at the mine described seeing a plane carry out several strikes on Saturday morning, triggering panic among workers at the site.
Without directly addressing the allegations, Egypt's military said armed forces and police were carrying out a campaign against illegal gold mining near the Sudanese border to "impose full sovereignty within the borders of the Egyptian state" and protect state resources.
It said "warning flyers" had been dropped before the operation targeting what it described as "criminal elements" involved in illegal mining.
{{/usCountry}}It said "warning flyers" had been dropped before the operation targeting what it described as "criminal elements" involved in illegal mining.
{{/usCountry}}It also urged people not to be swayed by "misleading rumours and foreign agendas" that could harm relations between Egypt and Sudan.
- Sudan probe -
Egypt is a key backer of Sudan's military in its war against the RSF, which erupted in April 2023. But it also views the conflict along its 1,200-kilometre border with Sudan as a major security threat.
East of the Nile, the porous frontier has long been a route for gold smuggling, illicit trade and human trafficking, which Egypt has tried to stem, including by using mass deportations.
Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Monday ordered a probe into what he called a "painful incident in a border area between Sudan and Egypt".
He also formed a fact-finding committee comprising prosecutors, judicial officials and security representatives "to investigate the circumstances of the incident" and "submit a report on the results", according to the Transitional Sovereignty Council, which he heads as army chief.
His adviser for foreign affairs, Amjad Farid, described Saturday's attack as an "unjustified and unacceptable crime".
In a post on X, he said there were many ways to enforce the law and address "border violations", but that "the use of airstrikes against civilians cannot be one of them".
In a phone call with his Sudanese counterpart, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stressed the "mutual respect that binds the two brotherly nations", including respect for each state's "territorial integrity and safety of its territory and borders".
- Egyptian drivers shot -
In a separate incident on Monday, a gunman killed two Egyptian nationals and wounded a third at a market in southern Khartoum, a Sudanese security official told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
Egypt's foreign ministry said the victims were truck drivers and that its ambassador in Sudan had been tasked with checking on the injured man and arranging the return of the two bodies to Egypt.
The motive behind the attack was not immediately clear, and it was unknown whether it was linked to the airstrike.
The border attack took place in a vast, mineral-rich region that stretches for hundreds of kilometres across the frontier and includes the disputed Halayeb Triangle, a territory claimed by both Sudan and Egypt.
The region has become a magnet for informal miners as Sudan's war has wrecked livelihoods and driven thousands toward the gold trade.
Gold remains one of Sudan's few functioning economic lifelines and a major source of revenue for both sides of the conflict.
The area is also a key corridor for smuggling.
Much of the gold extracted in army-controlled eastern Sudan is believed to pass through Egypt before reaching international markets via the United Arab Emirates, one of the world's largest gold trading hubs.
Saturday's attack is the second reported strike this year on Jabal al-Uqaydat. In June, airstrikes reportedly carried out by Egypt killed 23 workers at the same informal mine.
At the time, the Egyptian military did not claim responsibility but also said it had conducted a "large-scale operation" against illegal gold mining within its borders.
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