South Sudan rebels claim deadly highway attack

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan (AA) - Rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar said on Friday it carried out Thursday's ambush near the capital that killed 14 people -- including 2 soldiers -- and injured scores of others.

Vehicles carrying civilians and military escorts came under attack on Juba-Nimule road in Moli, 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the capital, Juba.

“SPLA-IO takes the responsibility for the ambush; this is our response to the constant attacks on our bases and false claims that we are joining a national dialogue,” the rebels spokesman, Lam Paul Gabriel, said in a statement.

He said they were targeting government troops, who were escorting civilians’ vehicles.

“SPLA-IO regrets the loss of civilians’ lives,” he added.

South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has been blighted by over three years of civil war ignited by a brutal power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Machar in 2013.

Similar attacks in the country’s northeastern Jonglei state claimed more than 30 lives last month.