JUBA – Four troopers of South Sudan’s nationwide military (SSPDF) have been killed and three others wounded in a sequence of assaults on their defensive place in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, a military spokesperson mentioned. The SSPDF attributed the assaults to group allied to the opposition armed group SPLA-IO.
SSPDF spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang mentioned in an announcement that armed native youth attacked three troopers at 3:00 p.m. native time, killing one and pursuing the others. The identical group later launched one other assault simply two hours after the primary, adopted by a 3rd assault on Saturday at daybreak. The assaults led to the deaths of 4 troopers and the wounding of three others.
“On Valentine’s Day, at 3 p.m., three servicemen left their defensive trenches to collect firewood. About 600 meters away, they were attacked and pursued, resulting in the death of an officer,” Koang mentioned within the assertion. “A second daring attack was launched two hours later, followed by a third attack at dawn on February 15, 2025,” he added. Koang emphasised that every one three assaults have been unprovoked.
The spokesperson claimed that the Sudan People’s Liberation Army In Opposition (SPLA-IO), the army wing of the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM-IO), led by First Vice President Riek Machar, had been inciting armed youth to focus on the military’s defensive positions.
“The recurring attacks on the SSPDF’s defensive position at Wei-Yar-Adiu are a direct result of SPLA-IO’s ongoing instigation of armed youth, aimed at maintaining a hostile and offensive posture that restricts the freedom of movement of our servicemen, both on and off duty,” Koang mentioned.
He additional acknowledged that the state of affairs had worsened as a result of appointment of hostile SPLA-IO commissioners in Nasir County and an unfriendly governor in Upper Nile State.
As of press time, the SPLA-IO had not commented on the accusations.
The renewed violence marks an extra escalation in tensions between the SPLA-IO and the SSPDF, who’ve additionally clashed in latest weeks in elements of Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal states.
Both sides are at present implementing a 2018 peace settlement aimed toward ending the civil warfare that started in 2013 in Juba and unfold all through the nation.
Gen. Koang known as on the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM), which investigates violations of the ceasefire, to carry the SPLA-IO accountable for the assaults.
“SSPDF urges CTSAMVM to investigate SPLA-IO’s latest violations of the peace agreement in Upper Nile, Western Equatoria, and Western Bahr el Ghazal states,” Koang concluded.