HEAVY fighting on Sunday in a disputed region claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan killed at least 32 people, including a United Nations peacekeeper, authorities said.

The civilians and a Ghanaian soldier serving with a peacekeeping force died when unknown gunmen attacked two villages in the southern part of the Abyei administrative region, local media reported.

A South Sudanese radio station, Eye Radio Juba, quoted Abyei information minister Bolis Kuoch as saying that 32 people were killed and 20 others wounded.