MOSCOW (Sputnik) – At least 153 people were killed during Friday clashes between government troops and opposition forces in the South Sudanese province of Jonglei, an army spokesman said Tuesday.
"The SPLA-IO [Sudan People's Liberation Army-In-Opposition] forces and some anti-peace elements attacked our forces on Friday but the SPLA forces managed to repulse them. Some 153 people died and we recovered 161 light and heavy weapons from the attackers," Lul Ruai Koang was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency.
He added that the situation had already stabilized.
6 August 2016, 11:05 GMT
An armed ethnic conflict erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, one year and a half after the nation gained independence from Sudan, when President Salva Kiir accused First Vice President Riek Machar of preparing a military coup. Over a million people have fled their home amid the conflict.
In August 2015, Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal that envisaged the formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity. Renewed fighting broke out in July killing hundreds of people.
