“My children were turned into shreds and their scattered remains [were found] in the woods and around the house,” said a stunned Abdelrahman Ibrahim to Nuba Reports.

On May 1, a government jet fighter targeted Heiban town in the Nuba Mountains with four parachute bombs, killing six children –four of them belonged to Ibrahim and his wife Fatim Farouk, eyewitnesses said. “I did not go to bury them, others took care of it, as I lost the stomach for such a scene,” he added. The indiscriminate government bombing campaign killed two other children belonging to Yacoub Omar and his wife, Hanan Ismail –who was also wounded in the attack and recovered in hospital. The six children, ranging from ages 4 – 13, include: Kuku Dowli, Yousif Yacoub, Jehanne Abderahman, Hafiz Mahmoud, Ibrahim Abdelrahman and Nidal Adbedlrahman.

Father Yacoub Omar (L) & Mayor Ayman Omar (center) points at the bomb site (Nuba Reports)

The incident has triggered an outpouring of protest within Sudan. Hundreds of Sudanese have signed a petition calling for an end to the government bombing campaign against civilians. The petition includes 620 signatories from 29 opposition parties, 31 civil society organizations and 560 individuals that “call for the re-awakening of the Sudanese national consciousness to take campaign actions in response to this crime […] and make Heiban the last aerial bombardment against civilians.”

This is not the first time Sudan’s air force has killed children in the Nuba Mountains. On April 10, a government plane dropped 18 bombs in Um Serdiba, Um Dorain County, killing three children in the attack, according to news reports and local sources.