[Al Arabiya Latest] At least 21 people have been killed in fighting in south Sudan's Lakes state after rustlers attacked a cattle camp, a south Sudanese military spokesman said on Wednesday."The attackers killed one, and then took all the cows from the cattle camp," said Major General Kuol Diem Kuol, from the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), of the incident in Yirol County. "Then those in the camp chased and fought back, killing 20 of the raiders," he said.
Clashes between ethnic groups in south Sudan erupt frequently -- often sparked by cattle rustling and disputes over natural resources -- while others are retaliation for previous attacks.
But Kuol said the attack was not due to ethnic divisions.
"These were criminal cowboys wanting to steal, and it is not a tribal issue," said Kuol, who added that SPLA forces had been sent in to secure the area.
"The situation is now under control," he said.
At least 700 people have been killed and more than 152,000 people forced from their homes in the south since January, according to UN estimates.
South Sudan is still recovering from decades of war with the north, during which about two million people were killed in a conflict fuelled by religion, ethnicity, ideology and resources, including oil.
The south is expected in January to vote in a referendum set up under a 2005 peace deal, which promised it the chance to choose independence or to remain part of a united Sudan.
Kuol also said rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) had killed a truck driver in Nzara County in Western Equatoria state on July 29.
"The rebels come across from their bases in Democratic Republic of Congo and attacked, then they returned," said Kuol.
Local media reports suggested hundreds had fled their homes in fear of further LRA raids.
The Ugandan-led LRA began its campaign of brutal guerrilla raids two decades ago, but has launched attacks on a vast swathe of land across several nations.