TEMPO.CO, Juba - Fourteen Chinese oil workers of a local oil company operating in South Sudan were killed on Thursday due to violent clashes between armed groups from Dinka and Nuer tribes, north of South Sudan.

The authority said that up to 500 people have been killed in violent clashes in the South Sudanese capital, Juba. Most of the dead were soldiers. The violent clashes have rage since the coup took place in the country. Seven hundred people were reportedly injured and 20,000 took refuge at the UN facilities in Juba.

The armed clashes are expanding between two military groups; one of them descends from Dinka tribe to which South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit belongs, and the other descends from Nuer tribe to which former South Sudan President Riek Machar, who is accused of igniting the clashes, belongs. Sudd Petroleum Operating Company (SPOC), a joint venture between India, Malaysia and South Sudan is running Block-5 oil field, north of South Sudan, the official added.

The Southern Sudanese government accuses Machar of planning a military coup against the government at a time when Machar denied those claims and regarded them as a means by Kiir to get rid of his political opponents.

ANINGTIAS JATMIKA | XINHUA