A HOSPITAL in South Sudan has been hit by a government air attack, a group of medics reported on Wednesday.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Tuesday’s attack came after the South Sudanese government imposed restrictions on humanitarian access in December in opposition held areas of Jonglei.

In a statement, MSF said the hospital was “evacuated and patients were discharged hours before the attack” after it received information about a possible air strike on the city.

Even so, “one MSF staff member suffered minor injuries,” the statement said.

The statement also said: “The hospital’s main warehouse was destroyed during the attack and we lost most of our critical supplies for providing medical care.”

MSF reported that in a separate incident, its health facility in Pieri, also in Jonglei, was looted on Tuesday by unknown attackers, making it “unusable for the local community.”

“Our colleagues from Lankien and Pieri had to flee with the community and their fate and whereabouts are still unknown.

“We are trying to establish communication with them,” the MSF said.

MSF South Sudan operations manager Gul Badshah said the charity had “shared the GPS co-ordinates of all our facilities with the government and other parties to the conflict before, and we received the confirmation that they are aware of our locations.

“The government of South Sudan armed forces are the only armed party with the capacity to perform aerial attacks in the country.”

Government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny and army spokesman Major General Lul Ruai Koang did not immediately respond for comment.

The United Nations says South Sudan, the world’s newest sovereign country, has seen an estimated 280,000 people displaced by fighting and air attacks since December.

South Sudan has been beset by civil war, poverty and corruption since it declared independence from Sudan in 2011.