'Torture and killings' in Sudan

LONDON (Reuter) - Government troops have killed at least 300 people in the southern Sudanese city of Juba in the last three months and arrested hundreds more, Amnesty International said yesterday.

Heavily populated areas of Juba had been burnt down by the army to create free-fire zones and 'more than 100,000 people are reported to be squatting, many in appalling conditions and without shelter from the seasonal rains', the London-based human rights organisation said. Juba has seen heavy fighting as the nine-year-old civil war threatens to engulf the area. Amnesty said there were reports of night-time executions and torture in the city.