At least 13 people have been killed in fresh fighting between two rival communities in South Sudan’s Lakes State, a lawmaker said on Tuesday.

The violence broke out between the pastoralist communities of Gak and Manuer at Malueth area in Rumbek North County on Saturday and Sunday.

Marik Nanga Marik, an MP representing Rumbek North in the state legislative assembly, told Radio Tamazuj that the Manuer section lost 11 people while the Gak section lost two people during the fighting.

He further said 16 others from both sides sustained injuries.

"The cause of clashes was due to some cattle which were raided from the Manuer section by members of the Gak section. This angered the Manuer who killed two people from Gak in an ambush as they traveled on the road from Rumbek town to Rumbek North County,” he explained.

The lawmaker pointed out that the Gak section attacked the Manuer section in retaliation for the killing of its two members.

Marik urged the two communities to stop fighting and make peace.

Many parts of South Sudan are in the grip of a cycle of violence between rival communities. Since South Sudan’s independence in 2011, cattle raids and revenge attacks have claimed several lives.