32 killed in South Sudan border region attack: official

JUBA: At least 32 people were killed Wednesday when suspected nomadic Misseriya herders from Sudan attacked a village in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei along the border of South Sudan, a local official said.

Abyei has been contested since South Sudan gained independence in 2011, while there have long been tensions between the South Sudanese Ngok Dinka community and the Misseriya herders who traverse the area looking for grazing.

Kuol Alor Kuol, the chief administrator of the Abyei area, told AFP that heavily armed Misseriya and allied militia attacked the village of Kolom early on Wednesday. "Thirty-two people were killed among them children and women, and secondly about 24 people are wounded ... and about 15 people including children were abducted and 20 houses burned," Kuol said. He said the wounded had been evacuated to a hospital in the town of Agok which is run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).