Local authorities said on Monday that attacks on several villages in South Sudan left at least 169 people dead.
Of those killed, 90 were civilians — including children, women and elderly people, regional Information Minister James Monyluak Mijok said. Some 79 government soldiers also died. Monyluak warned the toll could still rise.
What do we know about the deadly South Sudan attacks?
Unidentified armed men struck multiple villages in Abiemnom County in the Ruweng Administrative Area on Sunday. No group has claimed responsibility. Initial reports cited by AFP suggested a Nuer group may have been seeking revenge for the killing of several traders.
“The security situation has since stabilised, with government security forces deployed and now in control of the area,” Monyluak said.
UN peacekeepers said they were temporarily sheltering about 1,000 civilians at their base in the area and providing emergency medical care to the injured.
UN warns of return to ‘all-out civil war’ in South Sudan
Ruweng in the north borders Sudan. South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011 after decades of conflict, but independence did not end domestic fighting, widespread corruption or pervasive poverty.
Over the past year fighting has intensified between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and fighters aligned with opposition figure Riek Machar. The two had shared power under a deal that has since unraveled, prompting UN warnings that the country risks sliding into an “all-out civil war.”
The UN has reported some 280,000 people displaced by fighting in Jonglei state. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Monday it had suspended services in parts of the state after one of its facilities was hit by an airstrike, leaving 26 staff members missing.
Edited by: Karl Sexton