UN Raises Alarm Over Child Deaths in Sudan as Health Crisis Deepens 

Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. (Reuters)
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UN Raises Alarm Over Child Deaths in Sudan as Health Crisis Deepens 

Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. (Reuters)

More than 1,200 children have died of suspected measles and malnutrition in Sudan refugee camps, while many thousands more, including newborns, are at risk of death before year-end, United Nations agencies said on Tuesday.

Nearly six months into a conflict between Sudan's army and paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces, the country's healthcare sector is on its knees due to direct attacks from the warring parties as well as shortages of staff and medicines, they said.

Dr. Allen Maina, chief of public health at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), told a UN briefing in Geneva that more than 1,200 children under the age of five had died in the White Nile state since May. "Unfortunately we fear numbers will continue rising," he added.

The UN children's agency (UNICEF) said it worried that "many thousands of newborns" among the 333,000 babies known to be due before end of the year would die.

"They and their mothers need skilled delivery care. However in a country where millions are either trapped in war zones or displaced, and where there are grave shortages of medical supplies, such care is becoming less likely by the day," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told the same briefing.

Every month, some 55,000 children require treatment for the worst form of malnutrition in Sudan, but fewer than one in 50 nutrition centers are functional in the capital Khartoum and one in ten in West Darfur, he said.



CENTCOM: Four ISIS Leaders Killed in August Iraq Raid

US military personnel are seen south of Mosul. AP file photo
US military personnel are seen south of Mosul. AP file photo
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CENTCOM: Four ISIS Leaders Killed in August Iraq Raid

US military personnel are seen south of Mosul. AP file photo
US military personnel are seen south of Mosul. AP file photo

Four ISIS leaders were killed in a joint US-Iraqi raid in western Iraq last month, including the head of the group's operations in the country, the US military said Friday.

"This operation targeted ISIS leaders and served to disrupt and degrade ISIS' ability to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against Iraqi civilians, as well as US citizens, allies, and partners throughout the region and beyond," the United States Central Command, or CENTCOM, said in a statement about the August 29 raid.

A total of 14 ISIS operatives were killed -- revised from the 15 reported previously. Five US troops were wounded, with another two injured in falls.

The four leaders killed were identified as Ahmad al-Ithawi, the ISIS operations leader in Iraq; Abu Hammam, who oversaw operations in western Iraq; Abu Ali al-Tunisi, who managed technical development; and Shakir al-Issawi, who led the group's military operations in western Iraq, according to CENTCOM.

"CENTCOM remains committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS, who continues to threaten the United States, our allies and partners, and regional stability," General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement.

The operation took place amid ongoing talks between Baghdad and Washington over the presence of US-led coalition forces in Iraq.