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Government retakes South Sudanese town but with heavy costs

by Reuters

WARNING-STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES

Bodies are piling up in South Sudan after days of fighting leave the town of Malakal a barren wasteland.

The government announced Tuesday that its military had taken full control of the town, a claim that rebel forces deny.

The fighting left most houses and shops burned out -- some destroyed.

Clothes and other debris lie scattered through the streets of the town left by people fleeing for their lives.

At a hospital, one wounded man describes being shot and left for dead for no reason.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) WOUNDED MALAKAL RESIDENT, CHARLIE AMUM SAMUEL, SAYING:

"Exactly I was in the house, and these people came and wanted the key of the house, the shop. So when I went to get the key they shot me in the back and I fell down. I fell down and they ran away, they didn't take anything, they left me there."

Elsewhere in the room, faces of despair show the true cost of the conflict.

Meanwhile, aid from the United Nations Children's Fund arrives in the country's capital, Juba.

This plane brought 35 tons of emergency medical and hygiene supplies.

The U.N. says the month-long clashes between President Salva Kiir and rebels supporting the sacked vice president Riek Machar have killed thousands.

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