NNA - Fierce battles raged on Tuesday in South Sudan's capital Juba, witnesses said, as troops loyal to the president fought off an alleged coup in the world's youngest nation, AFP reported.



The continued gunfire, including the sporadic firing of heavy weapons, resumed in the early hours of Tuesday and went into the morning as terrified residents barricaded themselves in theirs homes or were attempting to flee the city.



South Sudan's Under-Secretary for Health Makur Korion said on local radio that at least 26 people had so far been killed in the violence. At least 130 more are reported to have been wounded.



"We can still hear sporadic shooting from various locations. The situation is very tense," Emma Jane Drew of the British aid agency Oxfam told Agence France Presse by telephone from Juba.



"It's continued shooting. Shooting could be heard all through the night. We don't know who is fighting who," she added, saying her team was unable to leave their compound because of the fighting.



The fighting began late on Sunday, and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has accused troops loyal to his arch-rival, former vice president Riek Machar who was sacked from the government in July, for attempting a coup.



President Kiir had also said Monday that his troops were "in full control of the security situation in Juba" and imposed an overnight curfew on the city.


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