The Sudan Doctors Network has reported that the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) rebels, allied with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have been responsible for the deaths of 27 civilians, including four children, in South Kordofan. The killings occurred in Qardud and Abu Hamama, inhabited by the Otoro tribe, on an unspecified date. The attacks have resulted in a significant displacement of citizens towards Abu Hitan area and Kadugli. This incident constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law as it targets unarmed civilians on ethnic grounds, potentially escalating the conflict into a broader ethnic dispute. The violence follows intense fighting between forces linked to SPLM-N and the Otoro tribe, first instigated by land disputes. This ongoing ethnic standoff adds another layer to Sudan's ongoing civil war, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the RSF. The international community has been urged to apply pressure on SPLM-N leadership to halt attacks on civilians, as women were also among those wounded in the latest attacks. The SPLM-N is a breakaway faction of the SPLM, the ruling party of neighboring South Sudan, with its leader, Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, aligning his fighters with the RSF and joining ranks with the RSF-led parallel government in Sudan. The civil war in Sudan has claimed at least 59,000 lives and displaced some 14 million people, while two-thirds of the country's population, around 33.7 million people, require humanitarian assistance, according to the World Health Organization.