Bodies litter liberated South Sudan town

Occasional shots still rang out on Wednesday afternoon, as soldiers from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) said they were hunting down possible hold-out rebels to secure the town.

The chaos caused by the rebels is everywhere to see.

Shops are looted, houses smashed down, while in the office of the governor -- used by the rebels as a base during their occupation -- windows have been bashed in and doors ripped off their hinges.

Huge piles of papers are scattered on the floor and covered in boot marks.

"We captured Bor yesterday evening... but there was still shooting throughout the night until around dawn," soldier Simon Deng told an AFP correspondent, visiting the town Wednesday afternoon on a government-sponsored trip.

Bor's capture put an end to nearly a week-long seige of the town, that forced over 17,000 desperate civilians to seek shelter and protection at the overstretched United Nations peacekeeping compound, severely impacting limited food and supplies.

Peacekeepers had feared an assault like that which took place last week on a remote UN outpost in Jonglei's Akobo, in which two Indian blue helmets were killed when some 2,000 gunmen stormed the base to massacre at least 20 civilians sheltering there.

Vowing not to let gunmen breach the compound in Bor, UN peacekeepers had spent days bolstering fortifications ahead of the army assault.

During rebel control, four United States servicemen were wounded in an aborted mission to evacuate American citizens from the town when gunfire hit their three aircraft, with the mission finally completed a day later on Sunday.

Now, some civilians wave their hands in the air, the women ululating at the soldiers from the SPLA driving past, shouting the South Sudanese civil war-era chants of support, "SPLA-oyee!" (oh yes).

Fighting has gripped South Sudan for more than a week, after President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Machar, who was fired from the government in July, of attempting a coup. Machar denied the claim and accused Kiir of carrying out a vicious purge of his rivals.

Bor's recapture was described by Information Minister Michael Makwei as a "gift of the government of South Sudan to the people".

But deep ethnic tensions remain, with Nuer civilians in Bor -- from the same ethnic group as Machar and the rebels -- now wary and fearful of possible reprisal attacks, despite government assurances only the rebels and criminals will face justice.

• Unrest, Conflicts & War
• Politics & Government
• South Sudan

Source http://news.yahoo.com/bodies-litter-liberated-south-sudan-town-212926534.html