The UN Security Council has called on warring factions in South Sudan to immediately end the recent fighting and prevent the spread of violence, the BBC reported.

In an unanimous statement, the council condemned the fighting "in the strongest terms" and expressed "particular shock and outrage" at attacks on UN sites.

It also called for additional peacekeepers to be sent to South Sudan.

More than 200 people are reported to have died in clashes since Friday.

The fighting broke out when troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and first Vice-President Riek Machar began shooting at each other in the streets of the South Sudanese capital, Juba.

Relations between the two men have been fractious since independence in 2011. Despite a peace deal last year ending a civil war, each side accuses the other of bad faith.

The weekend's violence later escalated, with tanks, helicopter gunships and troops using rocket-propelled grenades involved.

Source: MENA