At least 16 people were killed in the South Sudanese town of Wau on Monday, said the United Nations, as witnesses said ethnic militiamen went house to house searching for people from other groups.
Streets were deserted as families hid inside, residents said by phone. Some reported seeing killings.
Witnesses said the militia members were aligned with the government in the country’s ethnically charged civil war. They accused army soldiers of blocking the main road to a civilian encampment protected by UN peacekeepers.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said two UN peacekeeping patrols had been sent to the area on Monday and more were expected to patrol on Tuesday. The UN peacekeeping mission is known as UNMISS.
“They saw 16 bodies of civilians in a hospital and at least 10 others were injured,” Dujarric told reporters in New York. “Eighty-four people have arrived at the UNMISS protection of civilians site in Wau, while at least 3,000 people have reportedly moved to a site run by the Catholic church in town and those are mostly women and children,” he said.
