Four Soldiers And 10 Militants Killed In Battle In South Sudan

Four soldiers and 10 militia members were killed in fighting in the South Sudan region, where previous clashes led to the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar.

President Salva Kiir's long-standing arrest in March sparked international calls for restraint and sparked fears of a return to civil war between the Kiir-led Dinka forces and Nuer fighters loyal to Machhar.

The fighters of the so-called White Army, a militia that Machhar's opponents say is linked to his SPLM-IO party, attacked the South Sudanese military on Monday in an area in Upper Nile state, near the city of Nasir, a spokesman for the South Sudanese military, Garang Atery said.

The city in the northeast is the location of violence that caused Machar's detention to erupt earlier this year.

"They (the White Army) carried out three separate attacks against our position," said Ateny.

He said soldiers had lost four soldiers in the clashes while 10 attackers were killed.

SPLM-IO and White Army spokesmans could not immediately be contacted. Machar and his party denied any connection with the current White Army.

Kiir, a Health Office member, has served in an uncomfortable power-sharing government with Machhar, a Nuer, since the 2018 peace agreement ended a ethnic civil war between fighters loyal to the two figures, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Machar's detention, as he tries to trigger an uprising through his alleged support for the White Army militia, has sparked fears of a resurgence of interethnic conflicts.