Buzzapp Master 
At least seven people have been killed and 20 others injured after a hospital and a local market were bombed in South Sudan’s Jonglei State, according to the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), as tensions mount and warnings of renewed civil war intensify.
MSF reported that a helicopter gunship dropped a bomb on the pharmacy of the hospital it runs in Old Fangak—burning the facility to the ground—before opening fire on the town for approximately 30 minutes. Shortly afterward, a drone reportedly struck a nearby market.
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The hospital, which was the only healthcare facility serving over 110,000 residents of Fangak County, was completely destroyed in the attack, including all medical supplies. The charity denounced the assault as a “clear violation of international humanitarian law.”
Speaking to the BBC’s Newshour, MSF spokesperson Mamman Mustapha said the organization was still verifying the details but noted that local eyewitnesses identified the helicopters as belonging to government forces.
“The hospital is clearly marked as a hospital with our logo,” Mustapha emphasized. “We have shared our coordinates with all warring parties in the area, so the hospital should be known to both sides.”
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There has been no official response from the South Sudanese government. The BBC has contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
The attack comes amid rising fears of a return to large-scale conflict in South Sudan. Nicholas Haysom, head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), recently warned that the country is “teetering on the brink of a return to full-scale civil war.”
Tensions have escalated between President Salva Kiir and his long-time political rival, Vice-President Riek Machar. Just hours before the bombing, army chief Paul Majok Nang vowed punitive strikes in retaliation for the hijacking of several river barges. He blamed the attacks on a militia allegedly linked to Machar, though the vice-president has not publicly responded to the accusations.
Machar was arrested in March, along with several of his allies, over claims that he was attempting to incite rebellion. In recent weeks, the government has labeled several counties as “hostile”—a designation widely interpreted as identifying areas aligned with Machar.
Observers fear these developments could reignite the ethnic divisions that fueled the country’s brutal civil war from 2013 to 2018. That conflict, triggered when President Kiir dismissed Machar as vice-president, resulted in an estimated 400,000 deaths and displaced over 2.5 million people.
Though a peace deal was signed in 2018, installing both Kiir and Machar in a unity government, key provisions remain unfulfilled. Elections have been repeatedly delayed, and the integration of various militias into a unified national army has stalled.
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The latest surge in violence began earlier this year when the White Army—a militia historically allied with Machar—clashed with government forces in Upper Nile State and captured a military base in Nasir. In March, a United Nations helicopter evacuating troops from the region came under fire, killing several, including a senior army general.
Human rights organizations are now urging South Sudan’s military to cease attacks on civilian targets and recommit to protecting humanitarian spaces.
With political tensions surging and violence spilling into civilian areas, South Sudan appears dangerously close to slipping back into conflict—a move that could undo years of fragile peacebuilding efforts.
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