An airstrike by South Sudan’s air force has killed at least 19 people in the eastern town of Nasir, residents reported, marking a deadly escalation just days after government forces withdrew from the area following clashes with an ethnic militia.
The town, near the Ethiopian border, has been a flashpoint in recent fighting between national forces and the White Army, a loosely organized militia of armed Nuer youths. The violence has raised fears of a return to the country’s 2013-2018 civil war, which left hundreds of thousands dead.
Juba accuses First Vice President Riek Machar’s party of aiding the White Army, which fought alongside his forces during the civil war against President Salva Kiir’s predominantly Dinka-led troops. Machar’s party denies any involvement.
On March 7, a South Sudanese general was among 27 soldiers killed when a U.N. helicopter attempting to evacuate them from Nasir came under attack.
South Sudan’s Information Minister Michael Makuei confirmed the air force carried out the bombing on Monday morning. However, Kang Wan, a community leader in Nasir, said the strike occurred late Sunday night, leaving 15 people dead on the spot, while others succumbed to their injuries. Another resident counted 16 bodies, with three others later dying from their wounds.
“All of them got burned, everything got burned,” Wan told media by phone.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said its hospital in Ulang received three wounded patients from Nasir on Monday morning. “Two of them were declared dead on arrival due to severe burns,” MSF said in a statement.
Nasir County Commissioner James Gatluak Lew, an ally of Machar, suggested the attack was retaliation for the helicopter ambush.
Meanwhile, tensions in Juba are rising. Last week, Uganda confirmed it had deployed special forces to South Sudan’s capital to “secure it,” though Juba initially denied their presence. However, Makuei later acknowledged Ugandan troops were in the country to support South Sudan’s national army “as needed.”
