JUBA, Sudan, June 8 (UPI) -- Washington expressed deep concern over reports of clashes between military units in the Sudanese state of Kordofan, adding it undermined a 2005 peace deal.
The south's ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement said at least 17 soldiers were killed in clashes between rival forces in the capital of Kordofan state, the Sudan Tribune reports.
Mark Toner, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, in a statement said the latest violence in Sudan threatens to undermine a 2005 peace deal that ended a civil war in the country.
"Such violent acts not only result in the loss of innocent lives but they further throw into jeopardy the peace that both sides had worked so hard to build," he said.
The 2005 peace deal gave South Sudan the right to vote to form an independent state. The report in the Tribune notes that while Kordofan is part of northern Sudan, it has strong ties to the south.
An SPLM official told the Sudanese newspaper that his forces didn't start the conflict. He claimed forces from the north launched attacks that started during the weekend.
The situation in Sudan is tense ahead of South Sudan's formal independence in July.
