Five UN troops shot in south Sudan

Five UN peacekeepers from India and up to seven civilians have been killed by rebels in South Sudan.

South Sudan’s military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, blamed the attack on fighters led by David Yau Yau, a rebel leader South Sudan’s military has battled for months.

He said the attack took place on a convoy travelling between the South Sudanese towns of Pibor and Bor.

“Definitely this attack was carried out by David Yau Yau’s militia,” he said. “They have been launching ambushes even on the SPLA for about six months now,” he said, using the acronym for South Sudan’s military.

The head of the UN mission in South Sudan, Hilde Johnson, condemned the killings of the peacekeepers.

South Sudan ended decades of civil war with Sudan in 2005 and peacefully formed its own country in 2011. But the south is still plagued by internal violence and shaky relations with Sudan. Leaders in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, deny that they are arming Yau Yau.