South Sudan army suffered “heavily” during Central Equatoria fighting – rebels
Soldiers of the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) shout and celebrate from the trench in Lelo village, outside Malakal, at the northern part of South Sudan, on October 16 2016. (Photo credit: Unknown)
May 16, 2020 (SSNN) – The National Salvation Front (NAS) said on Friday that South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA) on Friday suffered heavy losses after the two launched attacks against different positions of the rebel group on Thursday.
Suba Samuel Manase, the NAS spokesman, said a join attack by the SSPDF and the SPLA-IO on their position in Loka West and Conkart in the Central Equatoria state’s Yei River County was repulsed resulting in the killing of over 60 members of the South Sudan army and the SPLA-IO.
“In this operation, the enemy lost heavily both human lives and material with approximately sixty-one (61) enemy soldiers killed in action,” Manase said in the statement extended to South Sudan News Now.
“Three (3) vehicles and one (1) Anti-Personnel Carrier (APC) destroyed; forty-three (43) AK 47 Rifles, two (2) 12.7 machines guns, nine (9) RPG-7 and different assorted ammunition captured,” the statement further added.
The NAS statement which South Sudan News Now could not independently verify comes after a week of counter accusations by the parties to the agreement on the violation of the ceasefire agreement.
The holdout opposition movement said in a statement earlier this week that government and SPLA-IO troops were violating the ceasefire agreement threatening to attack the capital Juba.
Days after that threat, the SPLA-IO said eight of its senior officers were kidnapped by the National Salvation Front at an area in Yei. NAS has however denied the SPLA-IO accusation and said the senior SPLA-IO members were killed by the SPLA-IO itself after an internal differences ensued.
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