A Nepali peacekeeper deployed in South Sudan has been injured when the soldiers of South Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) opened fire on Sunday morning.

According to the Directorate of Public Relations of Nepal Army, the soldier who sustained a gunshot wound in the leg is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, and is out of danger.

The Nepali solder is said to have been injured when the SPLA soldiers opened fire on a Nepali peacekeeping team while they were returning to their camp at Yei after collecting water.

The Nepal Army has not made public the name of injured solider. Nepal’s reserve force battalion in South Sudan protects civilians by patrolling across the country, facilitates safe delivery of humanitarian aid and provides a secure environment for the displaced people living in UN protection camps.

Meanwhile, the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has condemned the attack on its peacekeepers. South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.

The latest attack on the blue helmets comes less than a week after the parties to South Sudan’s five-year conflict signed a peace deal in Ethiopia. UNMISS said prior to the wounding of the peacekeeper, the government soldiers had earlier fired an estimated 50 shots about 500 metres from the UN base in Yei.