Soldiers mutiny in tension over Sudan split

At least 50 people died in Sudan as a mutiny in the army spread through towns in the oil-producing Upper Nile state, stoking tension as the South prepares for independence.

Heavy fighting involving tanks and machine guns broke out in the politically sensitive southern town of Malakal on Thursday, when members of an army unit refused to redeploy with their weapons to the North and turned on their unit.

Fighting then spread from Malakal, which is Upper Nile's capital, to Melut and Paloich on Friday and Saturday.