TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Intense fighting has broken out in Bentiu, one of South Sudan's major oil-producing towns, when rebel militias launch an assault to the city in an attempt to regain control over the town, which is controlled by government forces, said military sources and humanitarian aid workers in the area on Wednesday, October 29, 2014.
The fighting marks the end of 'peace' in the civil war that has raged in the country for 10 months.
"Bentiu is under siege from its' north and south perimeters," said military spokesperson, Philip Aguer, as reported by AFP.
An aid worker at the United Nations (UN) base just outside the city reported that explosions could be hear all around the area on Wednesday evening, but it was impossible to verify given the dire circumstances.
Bentiu, which is the capital of the oil-rich Unity state, has moved hands several times since the civil war broke out in 2013, but it is known that government forces have controlled the strategic town since May 2014.
Previously, when rebels who are loyal to deposed Vice President Riek Machar stormed the town in April, it was reported that they engaged in genocidal acts - going as far as actively hunting for civilians who sought refuge in mosques, churches, and hospitals, reported the UN.
Both sides in the conflict - Machar's loyalists, as well as those President Salva Kiir's forces - have been accused of committing a variety of war crimes, which includes mass murders, rape, and attacking hospitals and places of worship, in addition to recruiting child soldiers to fight in the civil war.
Thousands of people have died and around two million others have been displaced from their homes, in addition to around 100,000 people who have been forced to seek refuge at UN's peacekeeping bases - including the one in Bentiu - out of fear of death and retaliation if they stayed at their homes.
ANTARANEWS