UN finds bodies in South Sudan showing signs of execution

KOBOKO, Uganda – Internal United Nations reports obtained by The Associated Press say U.N. officials in South Sudan found six bodies with gunshot wounds and indications of execution.

One report says some of the bodies found beside a road outside the western town of Yambio were handcuffed and blindfolded. The report cites local residents as saying South Sudanese government troops carried out the killings "on the premise that they were suspected rebels."

U.N. officials also found burned huts near the bodies and estimated the killings were in early December.

The deputy spokesman for South Sudan's army, Santo Domic Chol, says civilians frequently accuse the military of abuses and have a "political agenda."

The discovery of the bodies comes shortly after U.N. officials warned of increasing ethnic violence in South Sudan's civil war.