KHARTOUM – Drone strikes hit electricity substations in New Halfa and Aroma in eastern Sudan’s Kassala State early Monday, causing widespread power outages across the state, according to local sources and eyewitnesses.

The attacks struck the New Halfa and Aroma substations, with fires reported at both facilities.

No independently verified information was immediately available on casualties or the full extent of damage.

Activists supportive of the Rapid Support Forces said drones operated by the RSF carried out the attack on the New Halfa facility and knocked it out of service.

The RSF had not issued an official statement claiming responsibility for the strikes.

Witnesses also reported attacks on fuel storage facilities in Kassala State.

The latest strikes extend a rapidly expanding campaign against Sudan’s electricity infrastructure.

An open-source investigation by Al Jazeera documented attacks on 15 electricity stations across nine states between Oct. 20 and Nov. 1, before the latest strikes in Kassala.

The affected facilities stretch from White Nile and central Sudan to Khartoum, eastern states, Red Sea and northern Sudan, raising concerns about the stability of the national electricity grid.

Recent attacks have knocked several substations out of service and caused power cuts affecting water pumping, hospitals, businesses and other essential services.

Attacks Follow Sudan Complaint Against Ethiopia

The strikes came a day after Sudan said it had filed formal complaints against Ethiopia with the U.N. Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council.

Khartoum accused Ethiopia of allowing its territory to be used by the RSF to launch drone attacks against civilian infrastructure and electricity facilities inside Sudan.

The Foreign Ministry said documents submitted with the complaints included what it described as evidence linking Ethiopian territory to launches of one-way attack drones and missile-equipped aircraft.

Sudan described the alleged use of Ethiopian territory as a hostile act and called on Addis Ababa to halt the activity.

Ethiopia has previously denied Sudanese accusations that it supports the RSF or allows its territory to be used for attacks against Sudan.

Sudan has also released a government report saying it documented 70 drone attacks launched from Ethiopian territory between February and late October.

Those allegations have not been independently verified.

The strikes on New Halfa and Aroma follow attacks a day earlier on electricity facilities in Al-Dabba in Northern State and Abu Hamad in River Nile State.

Authorities in Abu Hamad said its transformer station was completely destroyed and taken out of service.