JUBA, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in the weekend clashes between rival communities in South Sudan's Gok state has risen to 41 people while 52 others were wounded, a senior police official in the area told Xinhua on Tuesday.
Azuma Mangar, Police Commissioner of Gok State told Xinhua by phone that normalcy has returned to the area after deployment of security forces to curb further violence between three sections of Waat, Kongor and Agok who ganged up against the Ayiel section in the state capital, Cueibet.
An official from the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) told Xinhua on Monday that at least 25 people were killed and scores wounded following rival community clashes over the weekend.
"The Saturday revenge attack by three sections of Waat, Kongor and Agok on the Ayiel section left 41 dead from both sides and another 52 injured," Mangar said.
"The situation is normal now and we have taken precaution by deploying police and army in the area to stop further violence," he added.
Since gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan has been rocked by several deadly inter-communal attacks mainly driven by rivalry over grazing land and deadly cattle raids orchestrated by presences of illegal arms in the hands of civilians.
The East African nation has been embroiled in more than three years of conflict that has taken a devastating toll on the people of South Sudan.
A peace pact signed in Addis Ababa in 2015 under intense international pressure was shattered again following renewed violence between government and opposition troops in the capital Juba in July 2016.
The conflict has since spread to other regions which enjoyed relative peace, causing mass displacement of least 3.5 million people from their homes, ethnic polarization and tribal violence that has killed tens of thousands of people.
