South Sudan's army shot down a United Nations peacekeeping helicopter in the restive Jonglei state on Friday, killing the four Russian crew members onboard, U.N. and military officials said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attack on the "clearly marked" helicopter and in a statement called "on the government of South Sudan to immediately carry out an investigation and bring to account those responsible for this act."

UN condemned South Sudan shot down  its peacekeeping helicopter Photo: Internet

He demanded measures be put in place to prevent any further incidents in South Sudan, where the U.N. mission, known as UNMISS, was created after it seceded from Sudan in July 2011. The U.N. Security Council echoed Ban's remarks, saying in a statement that it "strongly deplored" the incident, which it said was a "grave violation of the Status of Forces Agreement" between South Sudan and UNMISS and jeopardized the operations of the mission.