Updated

United Nations satellite images obtained by The Associated Press show at least 18,000 structures have been destroyed in the Yei area of South Sudan. It is one of the most significant caches of evidence of widespread destruction in the country's civil war.

The images show how population centers like Yei, Morobo and Bazi have been mostly devastated.

The Yei region has become an epicenter of fighting between government and rebels after a peace deal collapsed in July. The U.N. has highlighted the area for its risk of genocide.

The images do not show who is responsible for the destruction, but monitors of South Sudan's peace deal said last week that in most instances in Yei, buildings were burned by government forces.

A government spokesman calls the images "exceedingly rubbish."