Around 70 people were killed in an attack on the only functional hospital in the besieged city of El Fasher in Sudan, the chief of the World Health Organization said Sunday, part of a series of attacks coming as the African nation's civil war escalated in recent days.

The head of the World Health Organization called on Saturday for an end to attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Sudan after a drone attack on a hospital in Sudan's North Darfur region killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens.

Seventy patients and companions died in a drone strike on one of the last functioning hospitals in western Sudan's Darfur, the region's governor said.

At least 70 people were killed after a drone strike targeted the last functioning hospital in the besieged capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state late Friday, according to local officials and the World Health Organization.