Attack on South Sudan cattle camp kills 41

An attack on a camp of cattle herders killed 41 people in South Sudan late last week, a local official said Monday, as the UN warned of rising violence in the area.

Clashes involving pastoralists and settled farming communities are common in the south of the world's youngest country.

The attack occurred in the Nyolo village in the southern Eastern Equatoria state early in the morning on Friday, Angok Gordon Kuol, the head of the Bor community, said in a statement.

Forty-one people including women and children were killed, while 65 were wounded and others remained missing, the statement said.

"It was a cold-blooded massacre targeting unarmed civilians," it added.

The UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said in a statement on Sunday it was "gravely concerned by escalating violence between cattle keepers and settled farming communities" in the area.

The attack "reportedly led to retaliatory fighting" in nearby villages and "created widespread public fear", forcing people to flee their homes.

The mission said it was sending peacekeepers to the area.

Twenty-two people were killed in a November attack on cattle herders in the neighbouring state of Central Equatoria.

South Sudan broke away from its northern neighbour in 2011.

It has faced severe economic and political instability throughout its short history.