5 UN troops, 7 others killed in South Sudan

5 UN troops, 7 others killed in South Sudan

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan’s military spokesman says that five Indian United Nations peacekeepers were killed when suspected rebels ambushed a U.N. convoy in a remote, violent state.

Col. Philip Aguer said five others were also killed in the attack, but a U.N. official who demanded anonymity because of U.N. rules put the civilian death toll at seven.

A U.N. spokesman, Liam McDowall, confirmed that peacekeepers were killed. He declined to give numbers.

Aguer said the attack took place on a convoy traveling between the South Sudanese towns of Pibor and Bor this morning.

Aguer blamed the attack on militants led by David Yau Yau, a rebel leader that South Sudan says is armed by Sudan.