SOUTH SUDAN’S government asked civilians to leave a northern area on Monday a day after the military bombed an armed group accused of overrunning a military base and attacking a United Nations helicopter.

The group’s attacks in Nasir County have threatened a peace deal signed in 2018 by President Salva Kiir and his rival-turned-vice-president, Riek Machar, that ended a five-year civil war during which over 400,000 people were killed.

Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told journalists that any civilian refusing to leave declared military zones “will be treated accordingly.”

Mr Lueth confirmed that the army had conducted an air strike in Nasir County on Sunday night and would launch more.

Nasir County Commissioner Gatluak Lew Thiep told local media outlets that more than a dozen civilians were killed in the bombing.

The army did not confirm killing civilians.

Government troops have been clashing in Nasir County with an armed group, known as the White Army, that some believe is allied with Machar.

President Kiir angered Mr Machar’s faction in recent weeks by firing officials seen as loyal to Mr Machar, who said that “persistent violations through unilateral decisions and decrees threaten the very existence” of the 2018 peace deal.

Government troops surrounded Mr Machar’s home in the capital, Juba, earlier this month.