(RTTNews) - At least 47 people have been killed after dozens of armed Mundari tribesmen attacked two villages belonging to the rival Dinka Aliap tribe in South Sudan's Lakes state region, said officials on Wednesday.

Officials said armed Mundari tribesmen launched a cattle raid on the two villages simultaneously on Monday, which was repelled successfully by the villagers who then chased the attackers back to their lands.

According to South Sudan's military officials, ten members of the Dinka Aliap tribe and 37 Mundari tribesmen were killed in the attack, which also left 16 others injured.
Tribal clashes over cattle, water and pasturage are common in South Sudan. UN estimates that at least 2,000 people have died in such clashes over cattle and territory this year alone. Official figures show that more people have died in such clashes over cattle and territory in South Sudan this year than in the country's troubled Dafur region.

Though two decades of civil war between the Arab-dominated north Sudan and the mostly Christian and animist South was halted by a 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that set up an autonomous secular government in the south, tribal clashes still continue in the region.

by RTT Staff Writer

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