UN is to boost its forces in South Sudan as fierce clashes were taking place in the African country between the army and rebel forces.
UN is to boost its forces in South Sudan as fierce clashes were taking place in the African country between the army and rebel forces.
Thousands are believed to have been killed in more than a week of violence, with reports of bodies piled in mass graves amid escalating battles between troops loyal to Preside
nt Salva Kiir and those backing his rival Riek Machar, a former vice president who was sacked in July.
Government forces celebrated late Tuesday the recapture of Bor from forces loyal to Machar after the army stormed the strategic town, but battles raged elsewhere including Malakal, capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state.
Information Minister Michael Makwei denied rebel claims they had seized it.
"There is fighting now in Malakal since morning between the government forces and the rebels," Makwei told AFP. "It is not true that the rebels have taken over."
Fighting has spread to half the country's 10 states, the United Nations said, with hundreds of thousands fleeing to the countryside and others flooding UN bases seeking shelter.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council voted late Tuesday to send nearly 6,000 extra soldiers and police to South Sudan, nearly doubling the UNMISS force to 12,500 troops and 1,323 civilian police.
But UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who requested the reinforcements, warned the force "will not be able to protect every civilian in need in South Sudan".
The US military deployed a "platoon-sized" Marine contingent to neighboring Uganda, while nearly 100 US troops are already on the ground in South Sudan. Four were wounded on Saturday when their aircraft was shot at during an evacuation operation.
South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 to become the youngest country in the world. It remains a fragile state with deep ethnic divisions.
Kiir has accused Machar of starting the fighting by attempting a coup, while Machar says the president has exploited tensions within the army to carry out a purge.
