More than 3,000 people were killed in South Sudan in brutal massacres last week in bloody ethnic violence that forced thousands to flee, the top local official in the affected area said.
"There have been mass killings, a massacre," said Joshua Konyi, commissioner for Pibor county in Jonglei state."We have been out counting the bodies and we calculate so far that 2,182 women and children were killed and 959 men died."
United Nations and South Sudanese army officials have yet to confirm the death tolls and the claims from the remote region could not be independently verified.
If confirmed, the killings would be the worst outbreak of ethnic violence ever seen in the fledgling nation, which split from Sudan in July.
A column of 6,000 rampaging armed youths from the Lou Nuer tribe last week marched on the remote town of Pibor, home to the rival Murle people, whom they blame for cattle raiding and have vowed to exterminate.
The Lou Nuer gunmen attacked Pibor and only withdrew after government troops opened fire.
Over 1,000 children are missing, feared abducted, while tens of thousands of cows were stolen, Mr Konyi added, who comes from the Murle ethnic group.
UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan Lise Grande said earlier this week that she feared "tens, perhaps hundreds" could have died.
South Sudan army spokesman Philip Aguer he was still awaiting reports from forces on the ground.
"For the assessment to be credible, they must have gone into the villages to count all the bodies."
The UN estimates ethnic violence, cattle raids and reprisal attacks in the vast eastern state left more than 1,100 people dead and forced 63,000 from their homes last year.
@'ABC'
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