A Sudanese warplane dropped a bomb that hit the grounds of Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel, in the Nuba Mountains, last Thursday, 1 May.

The organization Trocaire, which works with the Diocese of El Obeid to support the hospital, reported that around 10:00 a.m. the Sudan Armed Forces bombed the diocesan hospital causing one minor injury and some minor structural damage.

The organization confirmed that two bombs exploded inside the hospital grounds.

One of the bombs hit not far from the residence of medical director Dr. Tom Catena. The force of the blast blew in the door of his house and shattered the windows.

According to Nuba Reports, the attack followed aerial surveillance flights by an unmanned drone aircraft on 26 April and 29 April.

Hundreds of hospital patients and visitors fled into the bush, or caves in nearby mountains.

At 8:00 am the following day, an Antonov bomber, dropped eight more bombs that landed on a mountain top a couple kilometers away, injuring an elderly man near his house, stated Nuba Reports.

Initially the hospital staff hoped the bombing was a mistake. But the head of the diocese, Bishop Macram Max Gassis, pointed to the earlier drone flights as evidence that the attack was planned and deliberat.

Dr. Tom Catena stated, “They want us to go away, they want to kill everybody here, and they want to destroy any sort of infrastructure that’s here.”

“They know the hospital is important for the people, they want to demoralize everybody, they want to drive everybody out of here. So they want to destroy us so they can drive us away,” he added.

“This is the only thing that makes any sense; there’s nothing militarily here. There’s no military objective to destroying this place.”

Nuba Reports Video: Sudan targets only hospital in Nuba Mountains (5 May 2014)

Photo: Dr. Tom Catena surveys the damage to his home's door (Nuba Reports)