Southern Sudan: Soldiers killed in rebel attack Published duration 21 April 2011

At least 20 South Sudanese army soldiers have been killed in a clash with rebel fighters.

A spokesman for the South Sudanese army, the SPLA, said the soldiers were killed when rebels attacked a village in Unity State.

The oil-producing state is in the north of the region, which will become an independent country in July following a recent referendum.

There have been a number of recent attacks in the region.

Leaders in the south have accused the government in Khartoum of arming rebels to try to destabilise their region - something Khartoum denies.

Sudan's south voted to separate from the north in a referendum promised under a 2005 peace accord that ended decades of civil war.