U.N. decries S. Sudan soldier’s fatal shooting of peacekeeper

JUBA, South Sudan — The United Nations condemned a “direct attack” on its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan after a government soldier shot and wounded a Nepalese peacekeeper Saturday.

The shooting came three days after South Sudan’s rival sides signed a peace deal to end the five-year civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people.

The South Sudanese soldier fired into the air near a U.N. convoy in the town of Yei before shooting at one of the vehicles, the U.N. said, adding that the peacekeepers could not return fire because of the risk of hitting civilians.

South Sudan military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said the government takes responsibility for the shooting and that someone from the national security service, not the regular army, opened fire.