Forces loyal to a rebel general killed at least 19 people on the outskirts of the South Sudanese capital Juba, a military spokesman said on Friday.
Led by Gen. Thomas Cirillo, the rebel group known as the National Salvation Army attacked the area of Gorom, 25 kilometres west of Juba on Wednesday evening.
Nine people were wounded and brought to a military hospital in the capital, said Maj.-Gen. Lul Koang.
We are very sad for the massacring of 19 civilians by rebel forces,” he added.
The spokesman called upon the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring Mechanism, a neutral body with the mandate to monitor South Sudan’s conflict resolution, to investigate the incident.
General Cirillo refused to sign a peace agreement in 2018 that was brokered in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
South Sudan, the word’s youngest nation, has been torn apart by civil war for five years, with nearly 3,600 killed and about six million people displaced.