Nearly 200 people have been killed in attacks by a renegade militia in south Sudan's Jonglei oil state, the region's ruling party said on Tuesday, almost doubling earlier estimates of the death count.
"We express our sorrow and pain after the loss of nearly 200 people -- 197 people in Fangak county as a result of the heinous attack by George Athor's forces on a defenceless civilian population," the secretary general of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Pagan Amum told journalists.
Sudan's army said forces loyal to Athor, a former senior army officer who launched a revolt after losing in last year's elections, carried out a series of attacks in Jonglei last week. It earlier said 105 people died.
The violence has reignited concerns for the security of the region where voters last month overwhelmingly voted to declare independence from the north in a referendum.
French oil group Total leads a consortium controlling a largely unexplored oil concession in Jonglei.
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