Juba , South Sudan ( CNN ) -- South Sudan accused Sudan of launching ground and aerial attacks inside South Sudan 's territory Sunday . `` There have been bombings since 9 this morning , and at 1 o'clock they launched a ground attack , '' said Barnaba Marial Benjamin , South Sudan 's minister of information . The clashes came after the southern army said it withdrew troops from a contested , oil-rich border region . A spokesman for the Sudanese military could not be immediately reached for comment . Claims from both sides are difficult to confirm , as journalists and independent observers do not have access to the front lines . South Sudan announced Friday that it would comply with a request from the United Nations Security Council to pull troops out of the disputed oil-rich region of Heglig , which it had occupied since April 10 . Sudan claimed its forces had forced southern troops out and captured the area . Benjamin said his country 's army withdrew to bases near the border and inside South Sudan . Sudanese forces crossed the border and attacked them there , he said . `` They are trying to drag us back into a war , and that 's what the Security Council did n't want , '' he said . `` They must tell them to stop these attacks . '' Benjamin said the bases near the border have been repeatedly attacked in the past by Sudanese troops based in Heglig , and those previous attacks prompted South Sudan to occupy the area . Heglig is on the border created last year when the two countries split . Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had vowed to `` never give up '' the disputed region . While both countries claim Heglig , Sudan continued administering the region after South Sudan declared independence last July following a two-decade civil war . The south took with it three quarters of the formerly united country 's oil reserves , a loss that sent Sudan 's economy reeling . Sudan 's oil industry suffered further when fighting in Heglig forced a halt to oil production in those fields , which account for about half of the country 's entire production of 115,000 barrels a day . Satellite images suggest that infrastructure in the Heglig oil fields may have been severely damaged by the fighting . The Satellite Sentinel Project released images Sunday that suggest a critical part of the oil pipeline infrastructure was destroyed . The collection manifold , which allows oil flows to be separated or combined without interrupting the flow , appears to have been damaged by an explosion . `` The evident destruction of the collection manifold is a big deal in that this by itself is likely to result in immediate cessation of oil flow from the area , '' said Jonathan Hutson , a spokesman for the project , which is led by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative . Hutson said analysts could not determine whether the destruction was the result of ground fighting or aerial bombardment . On Friday , South Sudan 's military spokesman , Philip Aguer , told reporters in Juba that Sudan had bombed Heglig 's central processing facility the previous day and that it continued to burn . Serious damage to the facility would prevent companies from resuming production and would require substantial investment to repair or rebuild . Sudan has accused South Sudan of destroying oil infrastructure and said it would attempt to force South Sudan to pay for damages . The renewed fighting follows an appeal Saturday by U.S. President Barack Obama , urging the countries to `` choose peace '' and return to negotiations . `` You still have a chance to avoid being dragged back into war , '' he said in a video , which was subtitled in Arabic and posted to the White House website .
South Sudan 's information minister reports hours of bombings . A Sudanese military spokesman can not be reached for comment . `` They are trying to drag us back into a war , '' the South Sudanese official says . Satellite images suggest damage to oil fields .