at least 48 killed at UN base in South Sudan

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Heavily armed militants on Thursday attacked a U.N. peacekeepers' base that was sheltering civilians in South Sudan, killing at least 48 people and seriously injuring dozens of others, a U.N. spokesman in the country said Friday.

The attack on the U.N. base in Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, began when militants used rocket-propelled grenades to breach the compound, U.N. spokesman Joseph Contreras said.

Contreras said the gunmen then opened fire at the site, where peacekeepers had been hosting and protecting nearly 5,000 civilians.

Details about how the attack ended weren't immediately available. A search of the site continued Friday, and more casualties are expected to be discovered, Contreras said.

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