South Sudanese refugees flee violence, report looting, killing

South Sudanese women and children queue to receive emergency food at the United Nations protection of civilians (POC) site 3 hosting about 30,000 people displaced during the recent fighting in Juba, South Sudan July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Adriane Ohanesian

GENEVA (Reuters) - About 60,000 people have fled South Sudan since violence escalated over the past three weeks, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday. "They brought to us very disturbing reports, armed groups operating on roads to Uganda are preventing people from fleeing," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a briefing. "Armed groups are looting villages, murdering civilians and forcibly recruiting young men and boys into their ranks." The bulk headed to neighbouring Uganda, doubling the flow over that border over the past 10 days, and the rest to Sudan and Kenya, the agency added. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Andrew Heavens)