“I could hear the jets coming and then I could hear the bombs falling and I closed my eyes.”

On Sunday, June 9, at around 9:30am two Sudan Air Force Sukhoi fighter jets dropped three bombs in Kauda near the Girl’s secondary school. Two of the bombs landed to the north of the school building and 1 exploded south of the school building. The first two bombs made craters large enough to fit 2 cars inside and threw shrapnel, rock and soil up to 200 meters away.

18 year old Howa Omar was on her way to Sunday services at the local church when she heard the Sukhoi jets approaching. She quickly jumped into an old foxhole near the path on which she was walking to take refuge from the bombing.

“I could hear the jets coming and then I could hear the bombs falling and I closed my eyes” explained Howa. The bomb’s left the massive crater just five meters from where Howa was hiding. A large piece of broken rock fell and hit the back of her shoulder but did not do permanent damage.

Bombings from Sukhoi and MiG jets are less common in South Kordofan. Usually, Antonov bomb planes drop smaller explosives, which leave craters just 1-2 meters wide.

After the attack, the Sukhoi jets circled the area for a few minutes then flew back north. Howa returned to her house to clean up. She changed her clothes then headed back toward her church. “It is only because of God that I am still alive” she said Howa.