Khartoum Resumes Exhumation of War Victims: 93 Sets of Remains Transferred from Jabra Block 18 and Land Port Terminal

Khartoum locality authorities resumed the systematic exhumation and reburial of war victims on April 26, 2026, transferring 93 sets of human remains: 87 exhumed from Jabra Block 18 (a residential neighborhood that saw intense combat during SAF's 2024-2025 counteroffensive to recapture Khartoum) and 6 from within the Land Port bus terminal area. The operation is part of an ongoing forensic and dignified burial initiative that has transferred over 15,000 sets of remains from informal, residential, and makeshift graves since April 2025, when SAF completed its recapture of most of Khartoum. Authorities aim to clear all non-cemetery burials across the capital by mid-2026. The scale of the operation reflects the enormous civilian death toll from approximately two years of fighting in Khartoum — which ACLED satellite modeling estimated at 61,000 all-cause deaths in the first year alone, with the vast majority unrecorded due to communications blackouts. Both SAF and RSF forces had buried or left unburied large numbers of bodies in residential areas, schools, and public spaces during the war for Khartoum. The resumption of systematic exhumations coincides with the gradual return of civilians to Khartoum and international observers — including an African Union delegation that visited on April 22 to assess conditions for reopening the AU's Khartoum office.