South Sudan’s military launched an airstrike on civilians in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, early Wednesday, critically injuring a child, according to local officials and witnesses.
The attack has raised alarm over the fragile peace between President Salva Kiir’s forces and First Vice President Riek Machar’s faction.
The assault occurred around 3:30 a.m. local time, with multiple bombs hitting Nasir town’s market and a nearby residential area.
County commissioner James Gatluak reported that a woman was also wounded.
The strike has further escalated tensions in a region already on edge due to ongoing clashes.
The violence is exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations has warned that since February, at least 50,000 people have been displaced by the rising conflict.
Gatluak stated that civilians, particularly women and children, are bearing the brunt of the assaults.
This latest airstrike follows a similar attack earlier this week that killed 20 people.
The situation in Nasir is worsening, with aid workers evacuating due to the escalating violence.
Despite widespread condemnation, South Sudan’s Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth defended the strikes as part of ongoing “security operations,” stating, “If you as a civilian happen to be there… then there is nothing we can do.”
The renewed violence threatens the 2018 peace agreement between Kiir and Machar, which ended a brutal five-year civil war.
The conflict has already claimed 400,000 lives, and analysts fear the growing unrest could lead to a relapse into full-scale civil war.
The international community remains deeply concerned, with the UN’s Nicholas Haysom warning that South Sudan is “poised on the brink of relapse into civil war.”