The national government of South Sudan has been using child soldiers, a method it has previously used.

Press TV reported that the Human Rights Watch said witnesses have told them children soldiers have been used in recent clashes in Bentiu, the capital of Unity state, and in the neighboring town of Rubkona.

"South Sudan's army has returned to a terrible practice, once again throwing children into the battlefields. Civilian and military leaders should immediately remove all children from their ranks and return them to their families," Daniel Bekele, director of Human Rights Watch in Africa, said in a statement on Wednesday.

On Aug. 12, HRW reported they saw 15 soldiers that appeared to be children around the Rubkona military base and airstrip.

Some of the boys HRW has seen spoke to them and said they were ordered to shoot the opposition.

A 14-year-old in Bentiu told HRW, "I ran and whenever I heard shelling I lay down."

The country had previously made progress in avoiding the use of child soldiers, HRW said, but since a conflict surged in December 2013 the practice has resurfaced.

In December, fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and the opposition led by former Vice President Riek Machar around the capital Juba, Press TV reported.

But the government isn't hiding their use of minors but claim instead it is the minors' choices.

HRW reported that the government claims that since the conflict began, the children have been coming to look for work and protection.

But the use of children is illegal, as of 2008, and both the government and the opposition agreed to the United Nations that they would comply with the law.

However, since the conflict broke out, both sides have broken their commitments.

Conflicts have continued to ensue in the area, which was split into an independent nation in 2011 -- making it the world's youngest globally recognized nation.

The clashes have killed thousands of South Sudanese and forced 1.5 million people to flee their homes, according to Press TV.