Fighting that left dozens of soldiers dead at the SPLA Giyada base in Juba yesterday also resulted in the presumably accidental killing of three boys, according to an eyewitness.

The gunfight at Giyada started with a dispute over pay involving senior officers. At issue was whether soldiers accused of having defected or gone absent without leave should be paid in Juba or not.

A businessman who lives in Juba recounted that he walked past the Giyada base soon after the initial gunfight on Wednesday morning, during a lull in the clashes.

He says that around 10:00 a.m. yesterday he was cutting across Meidan Simba from the direction of Juba University heading toward Jabarona neighborhood in order to visit a sick friend.

Lying in the field were the bodies of three children, he said, recognizing them as boys who normally washing cars in Meidan Simba. Nearby also was the body of an SPLA officer.

Meidan Simba, an open field in front of Giyada, sometimes serves unofficially as an area for washing cars. Commonly in Juba the children doing this kind of work are adolescent boys about 10 to 15 years old.

The total death toll from the clashes Wednesday morning and evening is not known. Earlier reports suggested at least six other civilians died in two separate incidents. In terms of military deaths, the official tally was today revised upward to 25, according to Brigadier General Malaak Ayuen, one of the spokesmen of the SPLA.

Photo: Smoke billows out of the SPLA Giyada base after a firefight, 5 March 2014 (Radio Tamazuj)