S Sudan rebels fire at US military aircraft, injure 4 servicemen
Iran Press TV
Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:49PM GMT
South Sudan rebels have opened fire on two US military aircraft, wounding at least four US service members, officials say.
The aircraft were said to be heading for the capital of the flashpoint state of Jonglei when they came under militant fire.
South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, said the attack on the US aircraft has to be blamed on renegade soldiers, adding, "Bor is under the control of the forces of Riek Machar."
The area has been the scene of some of South Sudan's worst violence over the past week.
The violence began on Sunday in the capital Juba following a failed coup and has since spread rapidly across the country. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has accused former vice president, Riek Machar, of attempting to seize power by force.
Hundreds of people are believed to have died in the fighting between the army and Machar’s supporters.
The army says a top commander in the key oil-producing Unity State has defected to dissident forces.
Meanwhile, Kenya says it will send troops to South Sudan to evacuate some 1,600 of its citizens caught in crossfire in the militant-held town of Bor.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has expressed concern about the humanitarian crisis and deteriorating security situation in the impoverished country
“The members of the Security Council expressed grave alarm and concern regarding the rapidly deteriorating security and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan resulting from the political dispute among the country’s political leaders,” said Ambassador Gerard Araud of France, which holds the 15-member body’s rotating presidency this month.
“This threatens security and stability of South Sudan, as well as the neighboring countries and the region,” he added.
Araud said the Security Council strongly condemns the fighting and targeted violence against civilians and specific ethnic communities in South Sudan that have resulted in “hundreds of deaths and casualties and tens of thousands of internally displaced persons.”
This comes two days after an attack by armed men on a United Nations base in Akobo in Jonglei state left some 20 people, including two peacekeepers from the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), dead.
South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 after its people overwhelmingly voted in a referendum for a split from the North.
The government in Juba is grappling with rampant corruption, unrest and conflict in the deeply impoverished but oil-rich nation, left devastated by decades of war.
JR/SS/SL
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