Shooting broke out at a main town to the southwest of South Sudan’s capital Juba just after several shooting incidents in the capital on Saturday night.
Yei witnessed fighting within the army barracks starting about 9:30 p.m. and not lasting more than an hour.
Heavy shooting and also explosions thought to be artillery resumed in Yei at 11:30 p.m., waking residents.
At another town near Yei and also to the west of Juba, fighting broke out Wednesday night, killing eight soldiers. The incident in Mundri was downplayed by the army spokesman as a misunderstanding sparked by drunken soldiers.
But another report, still unconfirmed, suggests that about 100 Nuer soldiers defected from an SPLA unit in the area on the following morning, 2 January.
Yei is near the border with Uganda and Congo, and historically was a stronghold of SPLA in spite of some tensions with the local population.
8 SPLA killed in Mundri in fight sparked by drunken soldiers (3 Jan.)