JUBA, South Sudan - Armed rebels that South Sudan believes are backed by Sudan opened fire on a United Nations convoy on Tuesday, killing five U.N. peacekeepers from India and at least seven civilians, officials said.
At least nine additional peacekeepers and civilians were injured and some remain unaccounted for, said Hilde Johnson, the top U.N. envoy in South Sudan, in a statement.
South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, blamed the attack on fighters led by David Yau Yau, a rebel leader South Sudan's military has battled for months.
Aguer said the attackers targeted a convoy traveling between the South Sudanese towns of Pibor and Bor on Tuesday morning.
"They have been launching ambushes even on the SPLA for about six months now," he said, using the acronym for South Sudan's military, Aguer said.
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Kieran Dwyer, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping department, said about 200 armed men. attacked the civilian convoy being escorted by about 30 U.N. soldiers.
An intense firefight erupted before the attackers pulled back, Dwyer said. "Our peacekeepers fought courageously and saved the lives of many colleagues and the civilians they were protecting."
South Sudan ended decades of civil war with Sudan in 2005 and peacefully formed its own country in 2011.
But the south is still plagued by internal violence and shaky relations with Sudan. Leaders in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, deny that they are arming Yau Yau.
