MALAKAL, South Sudan -- South Sudanese forces struck two United Nations compounds as clashes between forces loyal to the president and those of the vice president continued for a third day, shattering a peace agreement that was meant to end a bloody, 31-month civil war.
Officials at the president's office put the death toll at 270 people since Friday -- 60 on the side of President Salva Kiir, and 210 former rebel troops loyal to Vice President Riek Machar, who until this year led the rebellion against the government.
The fighting began in the morning and continued until about 8 p.m. in Juba, the capital, when a thunderstorm seemed to put a damper on the violence, said U.N. mission spokesman Shantal Persaud. She confirmed that a U.N. armored personnel carrier was hit by a shell at a camp protecting civilians. Witnesses said U.N. peacekeepers in the vehicle were wounded.
The violence has spread across Juba since Friday, when members of the two groups clashed in front of the presidential palace.
"We are fighting at Gudele, Rock City and Jebel," said William Gatjiath Deng, a spokesman for the rebel forces, referring Sunday to neighborhoods and suburbs of Juba. "There are a lot of bodies; I can't even count them."
Jebel has an opposition base and a U.N. base that houses thousands of internally displaced people. The rebels have another opposition base in Gudele, including Machar's compound. People were fleeing explosions in Gudele, said a resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for her safety.
The opposition side blamed government forces for starting the fighting Sunday morning with an attack on a rebel base in Jebel. Three helicopter gunships bombed rebel camps, Deng said.
South Sudan's army confirmed the Sunday clashes, but army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said it is not clear how the fighting started.
About 10,000 Juba residents fled neighborhoods where there was fighting, said Jeremiah Young, policy adviser for World Vision in South Sudan.
"We have seen quite a few individuals packing up and leaving, trying to find shelter, what look like a lot of civilians taking off down the street, carrying their suitcases, their children," he said.
Other residents said they could not leave because of the fighting.
"I've gotten calls that I should leave, but there was so much gunfire nearby, I decided to stay in," said one resident, who insisted on anonymity for her safety.
Witnesses reported that officers were knocking on doors in some neighborhoods, checking identity cards.
The U.N. Security Council held a closed emergency meeting Sunday afternoon for consultations on the fighting in South Sudan. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the fighting in Juba.
"I strongly urge President Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar to do everything within their power to de-escalate the hostilities immediately and to order their respective forces to disengage and withdraw to their bases," said Ban in a statement. "This senseless violence is unacceptable and has the potential of reversing the progress made so far in the peace process."
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country wrote on Twitter that a "heavily armed exchange" had occurred near its base on Sunday morning, and the U.N. mission to South Sudan said both of its compounds in Juba had been damaged by small arms and heavy weapons fire. Ban confirmed that U.N. compounds and sites to protect civilians in Juba have been caught in the crossfire.
The fighting prompted 1,000 internally displaced people to flee from a U.N. camp to a U.N. compound, and hundreds of civilians sought protection at a U.N. base, the U.N. mission said.
About 160,000 South Sudanese live in displacement camps managed by the U.N.
U.S. officials said they met with representatives of the South Sudanese leadership Saturday and had received assurances that the fighting would stop. The U.S. helped engineer South Sudan's independence from Sudan five years ago and still wields influence in the country.
"The situation in Juba has significantly deteriorated," said a statement by the U.S. Embassy. "There is serious fighting between government and opposition forces, including near the airport, U.N. mission locations, Jebel and elsewhere throughout Juba. U.S. citizens in Juba should remain vigilant ... shelter in a safe location, preferably away from doors and windows, and avoid non-essential movements."
South Sudan's civil war started in December 2013, more than two years after South Sudan declared its independence. Fighting in Juba between Machar and Kiir's forces triggered the war that killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 2 million people. Much of the conflict fell along ethnic lines, with Kiir's Dinka followers against Machar's Nuer group.
Information Minister Michael Makuei said the South Sudanese needed to return to the peace agreement signed in August, which led to April's formation of a transitional unity government run by Kiir and Machar.
The two leaders issued a joint call for calm after Friday's fighting, which began outside the presidential compound where Kiir and Machar were meeting and soon spread through the city.
Calm was restored Saturday -- the day South Sudan marked its fifth anniversary of independence.
Each side blamed the other for initiating Sunday's violence. Makuei said the president would soon declare a "unilateral cease-fire."
But J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said in an email that it was unclear how much sway Kiir and Machar and other faction leaders in the "so-called transition government" had over their fighters.
"Between the collapse of oil prices and the destruction they themselves wrought in the civil war, South Sudan is so destitute that there are no resources with which the country's rulers might employ to bring their followers to heel," Pham said.
Information for this article was contributed by Kevin Sieff of The Washington Post; by Charlton Doki, Jason Patinkin and Charles J. Gans of The Associated Press; by Francis Lagu and Sinikka Tarvainen of the German Press Agency; and by Jacey Fortin and Josh Kron of The New York Times.
A Section on 07/11/2016