Over 100 killed in South Sudan clashes over cattle

Over 100 people were killed and dozens injured when suspected cattle raiders attacked a village in South Sudan's Warrap state, a media report said.

According to the Paris-based Sudan Tribune, at least 28 civilians and over 85 attackers were killed in the clashes between police and the attackers who infiltrated security arrangement of Tonj North County and entered Alabek village.

"The attackers targeted cattle camps, trying to drive away the cattle while people were sleeping," Xinhua quoted Paul Dhel Gum, the acting minister of information and telecommunications, as saying.

"The fighting took place from Thursday till Friday when the attackers got the chance to run away with nothing in hand," he said, adding that the attackers were backed by men in military uniform believed to have come from neighbouring Unity state.

The governor of Warrap, Nyandeng Malek, condemned the "barbaric" act on innocent people in the state, vowing to carry on thorough investigations into the incident.

The cattle raid, the act of stealing cattle, is a common phenomenon in South Sudan, where weapons are prevalent in dozens of tribes following the end of a 21-year-long civil war with Khartoum, which led to the independence of South Sudan from Sudan in 2011.