328 killed in South Sudan attacks

JUBA — A leader of South Sudan’s Murle community says 328 people from his group were killed in recent ethnic violence. Jongolei Boyoris, a member of parliament in the Jonglei State Assembly, said yesterday most of the people killed in July clashes were women and children. Boyoris said 32 children were abducted. No central government official confirmed Boyoris’ claim. The United Nations also has not released any death tolls from the July battles, which took place in an isolated, under-developed and hard-to-reach part of South Sudan.

While the death toll sounds astoundingly high, it is not without precedent. A UN report investigating violence between Jonglei’s Murle and Lou Nuer communities in late 2011 and early 2012 found that 612 Murle and 276 Bor Dinka/Lou Nuer died in that bout of ethnic violence. — AP.