JUBA — South Sudanese troops battled rebels in Monday in a key oil town, the army said, as the UN warned soldiers had tried to forcefully enter a base sheltering thousands of civilians.



Thousands have been killed and half a million civilians have been forced to flee the fighting, which entered its sixth week Monday with peace talks in Ethiopia deadlocked.



The United Nations says that atrocities including war crimes are reported to have been committed by both sides.



Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warning Sunday he was “particularly disturbed” that UN staff were threatened by government troops when peacekeepers blocked soldiers from entering their base in Bor, where thousands of civilians are sheltering from weeks of conflict.



The army has denied the incident, saying that they wanted to investigate reports rebels may have thrown off their uniforms to hide in the UN base, claims the UN has in turn denied. But Ban said the incident was “just one of a growing number of violations” of the UN accord with the government “making it increasingly difficult” for peacekeepers to implement their mandate.



Army spokesman Philip Aguer said the military was now pushing northwards against the rebels driven from Bor.



“Bor town is calm, but we are pursuing the rebel forces,” Aguer told AFP, saying that soldiers had pushed some 65 kilometers (40 miles) from the town, the strategic state capital of Jonglei state, which they wrested back off the rebels on Saturday.



The town, which has swapped hands four times in the conflict, was left devastated with corpses littering the streets and scores of buildings razed to the ground, according to an AFP reporter who visited the town on Sunday.

Civilians recounted grim stories of how the rebels gang raped and murdered sick patients in the town’s hospital. — AFP