South Sudan’s People Defence Forces (SSPDF) has been accused of attacking civilians in the Sunday morning ambush that left 40 people dead in the disputed area of Abyei.
Sultaan Bulabek, the leader of the nine chiefdoms in Abyei said that soldiers carried out co-ordinated attacks in several villages alongside armed youth from the Twic county of Warrap state.
He claimed that the attack was meant to push the Ngok community out of their homes.
A resident said his cousin was killed in the attack, adding that they could not retrieve the body from the scene because of heavy artillery.
Maj Gen Akuei Ajou, the commander of SSPDF’s third division, denied the allegations, saying the purpose of the force was to protect people between Twic and Abyei.
He added that youth from Abyei were behind the attack on a military base that killed seven soldiers and civilians including children on 13 November.
A joint statement by the embassies of Norway, the UK and the US urged South Sudan to pull out its troops from Abyei to prevent further escalation of the violence.
Abyei has been the subject of a long-running dispute between Sudan and South Sudan.
Last week, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of its peacekeepers by a year. The troops have been in Abyei since 2011.