'Half of my friends were killed' - the girls returning to a school caught up in war

BBC

It had been a typical day for 18-year-old twins Makarem and Ikram when their school came under fire.

Makarem was in an English literature class, and Ikram was in a science lesson when they heard "strange sounds" coming from outside the school in Sudan.

Then the shelling started.

Makarem says her shoulder "tilted" as she was struck. Screaming, her classmates dropped to the floor to avoid shellfire and find somewhere to hide.

"We took cover beside the wall and the girl who was standing in front of me put her hand on my shoulder and said: 'Your shoulder is bleeding.'"

In the chaos, the two sisters, who had been in separate classrooms, tried to reach each other but couldn't. Later, Ikram searched for her sister, unaware that she'd already been taken to the hospital.

Like others who were injured, Makarem was taken to the hospital by residents who drove the wounded by car and animal-drawn carts because there was no ambulance service in El-Obeid, the city where they lived.

Eventually, her teachers and classmates had to convince Ikram to abandon the search and go home.

It was only when Makarem returned home from the hospital later that day that her family found out she was still alive.

"I waited for her outside the front door and when I saw her coming we all cried," says Ikram, who had been in a part of the school that wasn't hit, so was unharmed.

The shelling left Makarem with a small piece of shrapnel in her head. It remains there more than a year later.

Makarem and Ikram's English teacher and 13 classmates were killed, and dozens more were injured in the shelling at the Abu Sitta girls' school in el-Obeid, in North Kordofan state, in August 2024. The school typically has about 300 students.

Regional authorities accuse the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - the paramilitary group at war with the Sudanese army - of firing the shells.

The RSF has never commented on the incident and did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. It is not clear whether the shelling of the school was intentional.

Makarem says half of her friends at school were killed, while the other half were injured.

As well as injuring her shoulder, she also suffered a head wound, but was discharged from the hospital having received basic treatment.

But several days later, after developing severe headaches, she was given a CT scan, which found a small piece of shrapnel in her head.

"It hurt very much and I had to take many painkillers," she says.

Worst humanitarian crisis

Sudan's civil war began in April 2023 and has resulted in the deaths of more than 150 000 people, with millions forced from their homes.

The United Nations says the country is now enduring the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Sudan's oil-rich Kordofan region - which is divided into North, South and West Kordofan states - has become a central front line in the war due to its strategic significance, sitting between RSF-controlled areas in the west and the eastern regions where the army is mainly in charge.

An estimated 13 million of the 17 million school-age children who have remained in Sudan are out of school, according to the UN.

North Darfur, under RSF control, is the worst-affected state, according to the charity Save the Children, with just 3% of its schools open.

The Abu Sitta school was closed for three months after the attack while it was renovated.

Makarem and Ikram said initially they could not imagine returning to the place where their friends and teacher had been killed.

Several students were given psychological support at the school when they returned, says headteacher Iman Ahmed.

Beds and nurses were also made available at the school so injured students could take their exams in comfort.

Although el-Obeid is still being subjected to repeated drone attacks, students at the school were playing and laughing in the courtyard when the BBC visited in December. - Read more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9eeyz933jo

Additional reporting by Salma Khattab