Sudan Sudan is to begin the disarmament of rival cattle-herding groups in Jonglei state this week, by force if necessary, the army has said. Some 12,000 soldiers and police are deploying to collect an estimated 30,000 weapons from Jonglei civilians. Last year, 1,100 people died in clashes between the Lou Nuer and Murle communities and tens of thousands have been displaced in fighting this year. The two groups have a long history of stealing each other's cattle. The violence tends to start as cattle raids and then spirals out of control, leading to revenge retaliatory attacks. South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan last year, is awash with small arms after decades of civil war that ended in 2005. News of the disarmament programme came as South Sudan accused Sudan of bombing an oil installation in its territory. The attack has not been independently verified, but the US has said it is alarmed by the reports. "Such incidents are unacceptable and threaten to escalate tensions between the two states," US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement. Sudan has denied the claim, saying it does not attack across international borders. 'Fed up with weapons' Six months after South Sudan's secession, the authorities declared Jonglei a national "disaster area" following the most recent clash over cattle. Some 6,000 Lou Nuer warriors descended on the Pibor district to attack the Murle in retaliation for a deadly raid last August. The UN has been unable to verify the number of deaths, but survivors spoke of seeing hundreds of bodies after scorched-earth attacks in which villages were burnt to the ground. Some 80,000 heads of cattle taken from Murle areas by the men, the UN says. "The people of Jonglei are fed up with these weapons," South Sudan's military spokesman, Philip Aguer, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme about the disarmament operation. "We are not expecting resistance, but if anyone fires at the army, that is a different story," he said. Last week, the UN warned that disarmament may increase tensions in the state. "Jonglei's rival communities are wary of relinquishing their weapons, regardless of government promises to carry out disarmament simultaneously in each area," the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement. Water well destroyed Some 6,000 Lou Nuer warriors descended on the Pibor district to attack the Murle in retaliation for a deadly raid last August. The UN has been unable to verify the number of deaths, but survivors spoke of seeing hundreds of bodies after scorched-earth attacks in which villages were burnt to the ground. Some 80,000 heads of cattle taken from Murle areas by the men, the UN says. "The people of Jonglei are fed up with these weapons," South Sudan's military spokesman, Philip Aguer, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme about the disarmament operation. "We are not expecting resistance, but if anyone fires at the army, that is a different story," he said. Last week, the UN warned that disarmament may increase tensions in the state. "Jonglei's rival communities are wary of relinquishing their weapons, regardless of government promises to carry out disarmament simultaneously in each area," the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement. Water well destroyed