A bombing attack on a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital and pharmacy in South Sudan’s Fangak county was deliberate and may amount to a war crime, according to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.
The attack, which occurred over the weekend, killed at least seven people and wounded 20 others.
A bomb was dropped on the pharmacy, burning it to the ground and damaging the hospital, followed by another drone attack on Old Fangak, a town in the Greater Upper Nile region.
Yasmin Sooka, chair of the commission, condemned the attack, stating that targeting medical facilities and services violates the Geneva Conventions and represents a direct assault on humanitarian action intended to protect civilians in conflict zones.
The commission’s findings suggest that the aerial bombing was a calculated, unlawful attack on a protected medical facility.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes amid recent air strikes and heavy clashes in the region between national forces and an ethnic militia allegedly allied with First Vice President Riek Machar.
The house arrest of Machar in March on accusations of trying to start a rebellion has sparked international concern that conflict could reignite in South Sudan, which officially ended a five-year civil war in 2018.
