SSPDF soldiers stand in a parade near Juba, South Sudan | Credit | Eye Radio

The National Salvation Front army or NAS, says its forces have clashed with the SSPDF and SPLA-IO in Lainya County, Central Equatoria state.

The armed opposition group under Gen. Thomas Cirilo claims that the SSPDF and SPLA-IO forces supported by Armored Personnel Carriers attacked their position in the outskirt of Loka in Lainya.

In a statement seen by Eye Radio, the armed group describes the attack as a “military campaign by the Revitalized government of national unity to exploit the global lock-down due to the Covid-19 pandemic” to attack its positions.

NAS spokesperson Suba Samual Manase says on Tuesday, they also clashed with SSPDF forces in Ketigiri, Wondurba Payam were some lives were lost.

On Tuesday, a community leader in Kupera area accused the SPLA-IO of forceful displacement of people who just returned from refugee camps in Uganda but the SPLA-IO denies the claims, saying it has no forces there.

The National Salvation Front is part of the South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance or SSOMA which signed the Rome Declaration with the government of South Sudan this year.

Efforts to reach both SSPDF and SPLA-IO for comments regarding the alleged clashes on Wednesday were not immediately successful.