185 killed in ethnic clashes in South Sudan

At least 125 people were confirmed dead on Sunday as sectional fighting continued between two feuding tribes in Jonglei state in South Sudan, officials said.

Sixty others perished in fighting between the army and a militia group in Upper Nile state on Saturday, according to the army spokesman.

The caretaker Justice Minister, John Luk Jok, said 125 bodies were found dead on the ground in Uror County in Jonglei state since the fighting broke out on Thursday.

The Murle of Pibor in the same state attacked the area on Thursday morning, he said.

He said 8 villages were devastated in the fighting and that some children were amputated by the attacking tribesmen.

The wounded were being evacuated by the Medicines Sans Frontiers.

Over 2,000 heads of cattle were stolen in the process, according to the state Governor, Kuol Manyang Juuk.

Militia group

The Lou-Nuer of Uror and the Murle have longstanding conflicts over cattle and grazing land and have been engaged in sporadic hostilities since North-South war ended with the signing of the 2005 Naivasha Peace deal in Kenya.

Kuol said the police force is weak and that the army was not fully on the ground to quell the clashes.

He however said no confrontation was taking place on Sunday, although he could not say peace had returned.

In the Upper Nile incident where 60 villagers perished on Saturday, a militia group had crossed the borders from Sudan into South Sudan and attacked Kaka village west of the Nile in Shilluk in Upper Nile state, according to the army.

South Sudan’s army spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, said the militias were a combination of Sudanese Arabs, Nubians and South Sudanese elements loyal to rebel leader George Athor Deng.

He said 53 of the dead were militiamen and 7 were army soldiers. Scores were also wounded.