United Nations officials said on Tuesday that the death toll from a drone strike on a Sudanese hospital has risen to 70, including women, children, and medics, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble.

Al Deain Teaching Hospital in East Darfur was struck on March 20, the World Health Organisation said, without attributing blame. The WHO said the strike put the medical facility, which acted as a referral hospital for over two million people, out of operation.

After search-and-rescue efforts, an additional six bodies were identified, Hala Khudari, acting deputy WHO representative to Sudan, told a Geneva briefing, bringing the total number of dead to 70. The number of people injured has risen to 146, Khudari said.

A UN human rights office spokesperson said the aerial attack involved drones in an area controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, which is battling Sudan’s army in a civil war that began in April 2023.

The UN rights office said it did not have enough evidence to attribute blame, but said both sides in the war have used drones on civilian sites in acts that might constitute war crimes.

Drones are increasingly being used in the conflict, and over 500 civilians have been killed in such strikes since the beginning of the year, mostly in the Kordofan region, the UN rights office says.