MORE than two dozen Doctors Without Borders (MSF) workers remain unaccounted for a month after attacks in South Sudan, the medical charity said on Tuesday.

Two facilities operated by the group were attacked on February 3 in Jonglei State, north-east of the capital, Juba, where violence has displaced an estimated 280,000 people since December.

A hospital in the town of Lankien was bombed by government forces, the MSF said, while another medical facility in the town of Pieri was raided by “unknown assailants.”

Both were located in opposition-held areas.

Staff working at the two facilities fled alongside much of the local population into deeply rural areas where armed clashes and aerial bombardments were ongoing.

MSF said in a statement that “26 of 291 of our colleagues working in Lankien and Pieri remain unaccounted for.

“We have lost contact with them amid ongoing insecurity,” it said.

The lack of communication with its staff could be linked to the limited network connectivity in much of the state.

“Staff members who had been contacted described ‘destruction, violence and extreme hardships’.”

Fighting escalated sharply in December, when opposition forces captured a string of government outposts in north central Jonglei. In January, the government responded with a counter offensive that recaptured most of the area it had lost.

Many of the displaced people in Akobo, an opposition-held town near the Ethiopian border, described horrific violence by government fighters and having to walk for days to find food or water as they walked for days to reach safety.

Facilities operated by MSF have been attacked 10 times in the last 12 months.

Yashovardhan, MSF head of mission in South Sudan, who only uses one name, said: “Medical workers must never be targets.

“We are deeply concerned about what has happened to our colleagues and the communities we serve.”