Heavy gunfire outside South Sudan president’s compound

Witnesses say heavy gunfire has erupted outside the compound of South Sudan’s president as Salva Kiir was preparing to address the nation on the latest deadly fighting in the capital.

Witnesses say heavy gunfire has erupted outside the compound of South Sudan’s president as Salva Kiir was preparing to address the nation on the latest deadly fighting in the capital.

In this file photo, South Sudanese government soldiers patrol in Bentiu town, South Sudan. Heavy gunfire erupted outside the compound of South Sudan’s president as Salva Kiir. (AP Photo)

Five South Sudanese government soldiers were killed in a shootout late Thursday between opposing army factions in the capital, a military official said Friday.

The violence echoed the skirmish between soldiers in Juba in December 2013 that sparked the country’s civil war in which tens of thousands of people were killed.

Also Friday, the UN mission reported an attack on a senior official amid fears of a return to civil war in the world’s newest country.