International

Renewed fighting in South Sudan claims 9 lives, 60 thousand flee violence

Published

8 years ago

August 2, 2016

Renewed fighting in South Sudan claims 9 lives, 60 thousand flee violence

Troubled South Sudan is boiling again as nine lives were claimed over the weekend following renewed face-off between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and armed men devoted to his rival Riek Machar.

Deputy spokesman for Machar, Nyarji Jermlili Roman said the nine victims died on Sunday when they ambushed a vehicle carrying government troops in Lainya County in Central Equatorial state.

“The government forces attacked our position but our forces, the SPLA-IO, managed to gain back control of the area called Magila, which is between Wonduroba and Katigerre,” Roman said.

But government military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang downplayed the weekend clashes, saying there was “small fighting” between the SPLA and Machar’s forces.

“We engaged them and they tried to put up some resistance, but at the end we overcame them and they fled to different locations,” Koang said.

Thus far, about 60,000 people have fled South Sudan since violence escalated over the past three weeks, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday.

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