At least 34 killed in ethnic clashes in South Sudan

At least 34 people were killed when two ethnic groups clashed in South Sudan, a local government official said on Thursday.

About 18 others were wounded when members of the Nuer clan from Northern Liech State attacked cattle herders of the Dinka clan in the village of Ajahkuach in neighbouring Twic State on Wednesday evening, Twic State governor Atem Madut Yak told dpa by phone.

Northern Liech State information minister Lam Tungwar confirmed the attack, the reason for which is believed to have been a cattle raid.

Cattle raiding has occurred for centuries between ethnic groups in the East African nation, and children are sometimes abducted during raids to be used as domestic slaves.

Clashes between the Dinka and Nuer - the nation's two biggest ethnic groups - also carry a political component.

President Salva Kiir, who belongs to the Dinka ethnic group, has been fighting a political battle with his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer, since their split in 2013, which plunged South Sudan into a military conflict.

The conflict has seen tens of thousands of people killed and about 3.8 million displaced.