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Suspected Kenyan fighter jets bombard Jilib town in Middle Juba in southern killing at least 10 people, reports said Sunday.
Local inhabitants said two war aircrafts hit Jilib town at least 4 missiles. Some of them landed inside and others struck outskirts.
Locals added that the bombardment targeted al-Shabaab food distribution area. Some 10 people were killed and 45 others wounded.
Israel has launched a fresh air strike on Gaza in which two people have been reportedly killed and another civilian injured, raising the Palestinian death toll to 11.
Sunday’s raid came hours after the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza said it had accepted a ceasefire agreement.
“The Islamic Jihad has responded [positively] to the truce effort, while it reserves its right to react to any aggression [by Israel],” Abu Ahmad, the spokesman for the movement’s armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, said in a statement on Sunday.
The spike in violence came as funerals were being held for two Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight. Egypt had been mediating truce efforts over the weekend and late on Sunday morning.
Conflicting accounts emerged Thursday over whether the extremist group al-Shabaab has signaled a desire to negotiate with Kenya amid a Kenyan military offensive targeting the group.
“They want to talk,” said a Kenyan official who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to talk to the media.
A spokesman for the Kenyan government, however, disputed that account and said Kenya wouldn’t talk with al-Shabaab even if the group did want to negotiate.
“al-Shabaab has not contacted Kenya in any way,” said the spokesman, Alfred Mutua. “There are no plans whatsoever for Kenya to negotiate with al-Shabaab. Kenya does not negotiate with outlawed groups.”
Four government soldiers were killed and several injured during fighting yesterday with the Kachin Independence Army on the Loije-Bhamo Road, in Kachin State, said witnesses.
The heavy fighting lasted for three hours at Du Ra Kawng, between Sinlum Bum and Lungja Bum, near N’Mawk (Momauk), in Manmaw (Bhamo) District, witnesses said.
Today, at about 3 a.m., a government military truck from Manmaw picked up several wounded soldiers from the area, said eyewitnesses from N’mawk.
Government forces have cornered about a hundred suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels who are allegedly engaged in criminal activities in Payao town in Zamboanga Sibugay.
“They are cornered and they are in various fighting positions,” said acting Army spokesman Maj. Harold Cabunoc on Tuesday, a day after the military launched an air strike followed by a ground assault on the rebels’ lair.