An ambush blamed on rebels loyal to former exiled South Sudanese vice president Riek Machar has killed 14 people, including two soldiers, as well as injuring scores of people on Thursday, police have told Anadolu Agency.
Vehicles carrying civilians and military escorts were attacked at Moli, 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the capital Juba. Gunmen ambushed them on the important Juba-Nimule road.
Police spokesman Brigadier Daniel Justin said the death toll could rise because a number of people were still missing.
He described the attackers as “anti-peace elements loyal to Riek Machar” who had acted against a ceasefire and in the face of “ongoing national dialogue”.
He also said the attackers torched three private cars.
The Juba-Nimule road is the only modern tarmac route in the country; it connects import-dependent South Sudan with neighboring Uganda.
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.