S. Sudan: 5 die in Sudanese aerial attack

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JUBA, South Sudan, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Five civilians died in South Sudan's Northern Bahr el Ghazal state in an aerial attack by Sudanese warplanes, a spokesman for the South Sudan army said.

The victims of Tuesday's attack were mainly women and children, the Sudan Times reported.

"Kiir Adem in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State came under heavy and aggressive aerial bombardments by the Sudanese armed forces today [Tuesday]. The [South Sudan army] general headquarters received reports ... that warplanes from Sudan carried out attack in the area, killing five civilians and wounding the two others," army spokesman Philip Aguer told Sudan Tribune by telephone.

Kuol Athuai Hal, a county commissioner in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, said he had credible information on reported ground movement by Sudanese troops in the area.

"They [the Sudanese army] have launched [an] earlier attack on the area ... and we have also received reliable information that ground troops have started movement toward the area," Hal told the Tribune.

A South Sudanese Parliament member from the region condemned the attack, which he said violated an agreement the two countries reached in September and internationals law on each nation's sovereignty.