United Nations says aircraft was downed by SPLA forces in eastern Jonglei state, killing all four crew members on board.
A UN peacekeeping helicopter on a reconnaissance mission in South Sudan’s Jonglei state has been shot down by the South Sudanese army, killing all four crew members, the United Nations said.
South Sudan’s army, however, has denied the United Nations’ accusation that it had shot down the helicopter on Friday, saying rebels, not government forces, had brought down the aircraft.
“The SPLA [South Sudan’s army] did not shoot down the helicopter. Rebels of Yau Yau shot it down,” army spokesperson Kella Kueth said, referring to rebels led by David Yau Yau who are fighting the army in Jonglei state.
But Kieran Dwyer, a spokesperson for the UN department for peace keeping operations, told Al Jazeera the South Sudanese army said it had shot at the helicopter.
“They were [crew members] looking for dry landing areas so that we could bring in troops to protect civilians there. We lost contact with that helicopter. We had communications with the national army, the South Sudanese army … who told us that they had shot at a helicopter in the region,” Dwyer said from New York.
“We immediately dispatched a search and rescue operation by air and we found the smoking remains of that helicopter. We’ve since confirmed that all four crew members on board were killed.”
Dwyer said the crash site had been secured to complete a thorough investigation.
UN deputy spokesperson Eduardo del Buey said earlier the SPLA were behind the attack.
“In subsequent communications between the mission and the South Sudanese Armed Forces, the SPLA told the mission that it has shot down the helicopter in the Likuangole area in Jonglei state,” del Buey said.
Investigation under way
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has condemned the shooting down of the “clearly marked” UN helicopter, saying the South Sudan army was responsible for the attack.
The UN mission immediately launched a search mission, and “it has confirmed the death of all four crew members,” he said.
The mission is investigating, del Buey said.
Earlier, the mission had said the Russian-built Mi-8 helicopter was not carrying any passengers.
Itar-tass news agency quoted a source at the Russian embassy in South Sudan as saying: “According to preliminary data, a Mi-8 helicopter owned by Nizhnevartovskavia company working under a UN contract was downed today in the afternoon”.
Russia said earlier this year that it would withdraw helicopters and personnel servicing the UN mission in South
Sudan after voicing alarm at attacks on UN helicopters there.
The UN mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS, was created after South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July 2011, six months after a referendum agreed to under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war that killed some two million people.