Deadly Fighting Erupts Between Rival Factions of South Sudan VP Machar's Party

JUBA - Deadly fighting erupted Saturday between rival factions of South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar's SPLA-IO, his military spokesman said in a statement.

The clashes erupted after Machar's rivals declared this week they had deposed him as the head of the party and its military forces. Armed forces led by a rival general in the party, Simon Gatwech Dual, launched an attack on Machar's men, who had "repulsed the aggressors," the spokesman Col. Lam Paul Gabriel said.