At least 82 dead, including women and children, as rebels continue attacks ahead of region's independence in July

At least 82 people, including women and children, have been killed after a south Sudan rebel group attacked cattle herders, a southern army spokesperson has said.
Fighters under the leadership of Philip Bepan attacked southern troops of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in neighbouring Unity state on Saturday, Philip Aguer, SPLA spokesperson, told AFP news agency on Tuesday.
"They were chased away and went to Warrap state, where they attacked cattle camps on May 8, at a place called Balhom Weth. They killed 34 and wounded 45 civilians, including women and children," he said.
"On the same day they were returning with the looted cattle, they were ambushed by the cattle herders. Forty-eight of the fighters were killed and 48 of their new AK-47 rifles were taken."
This is the third major incidence of violence in as many months in this nation preparing for independence.
South Sudan, which is due to be recognised as an independent country in July, has been rocked by a spate of clashes between the SPLA and various armed groups since the largely peaceful vote in January that delivered a landslide for secession.
The wave of violence across the south, that has included clashes between rival ethnic groups over resources such as land and cattle, has left more than 1,000 people dead and forced at least 100,000 to flee their homes, according to UN figures.
Aguer said Bepan was working for Peter Gadet, the southern army general-turned-rebel leader who is based in oil-rich Unity state and whom the army accuses of working for and being supplied by its former civil war foes in the north.