New Delhi, June 16 -- Drone strikes killed more than 1,000 civilians in war-torn Sudan in the first five months of 2026, a senior United Nations official said Monday as the unmanned aerial vehicles turn the conflict deadlier for civilians.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said his office has documented a "sharp increase" in drone attacks as well as rape and sexual violence in the Sudan war, now in its fourth year.

He said his office registered the killing of over 1,000 civilians by drone strikes between January and May this year.

"In Sudan, the horrific conflict has expanded and escalated, marked by a sharp increase in the use of drone warfare," Turk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The war in the northeaste...