7 killed in South Sudan air strikes, with MSF hospital among targets
The Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital is ‘the only one in Fangak county, serving over 110,000 people who already had extremely limited access to healthcare’
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said one of its hospitals in South Sudan had been bombed early on Saturday, with at least seven people killed by air strikes in the area.
South Sudan has descended into renewed conflict in recent months due to the collapse of a power-sharing agreement between rival generals, President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar.
MSF said its hospital in Old Fangak in the north of the country had been bombed, destroying its pharmacy and all its medical supplies. A patient and staff member were injured.
“The attack began at around 4.30am (0130 GMT) when two helicopter gunships first dropped a bomb on the MSF pharmacy, burning it to the ground, then went on to fire on the town of Old Fangak for around 30 minutes,” MSF said in a statement.
It said a drone bombed the town’s market at around 7am, leading to at least seven deaths and 20 injured.
“At 8am, we received around 20 wounded people at our hospital in Old Fangak, including four in a critical condition,” said Mamman Mustapha, MSF Head of Mission in South Sudan.