More votes, and more deaths, in southern Sudan

Ten civilians were killed along Sudan's increasingly tense north-south border, Sudanese officials said Tuesday, as voting continued for a third day in a landmark referendum on southern Sudan's independence. According to Col. Philip Aguer, a southern Sudanese military spokesman, several truckloads of heavily armed nomads ambushed a convoy of 23 vehicles carrying southern Sudanese, who were returning home on Monday to vote in the referendum. Beyond the 10 civilians killed in the attack, 18 civilians were injured and their belongings were looted, he said. "Ten people die, is that not a threat to security?" Colonel Aguer said. "We have to wait and see what this is, but it's a big problem." The attack on the convoy of voters followed skirmishes over the weekend, when more than 40 people were killed in the same general area along the north-south border. It has yet to be demarcated and is home to some of Sudan's more lucrative oil fields.