Army-rebel clash kills 55

AT LEAST 55 fighters were killed when South Sudan's army, the SPLA, clashed with a rebel militia, a state minister said yesterday, the latest in a wave of violence across the territory ahead of its independence in July.

Scores of troops and civilians were also injured, Upper Nile State Information Minister Peter Lam Both said.

The oil-producing south voted to separate from the north in a January referendum. Since then the region has been beset by violence and insecurity. The United Nations says more than 800 people have been killed this year.