18 killed in fresh South Sudan cattle raid: OfficialsBy MACHEL AMOS in Juba | Monday, December 3   2012 at  20:32

At least 18 people were confirmed dead in South Sudan on Monday after armed raiders attacked remote cattle camps in Warrap State, officials said.

The raiders simultaneously attacked more than 10 camps in Wunkec Village in Tonj South County over the weekend, the county commissioner Mario Monydhieth said.

Eleven dead bodies of the raiders and seven of herders were found after the attack, Mr Mario added.

“This fighting was organised in the morning on Saturday and Sunday. We stopped the fighting and police were being deployed in the areas affected,” the commissioner said.

A state minister in the regional capital Kuajok said the dead included children.

Raids and counter-raids are common among South Sudanese pastoral communities, whose lives revolve around cattle.