JUBA (Reuters) ? A rebel group in South Sudan said on Tuesday it was battling army forces near the capital of an oil producing state with the aim of bringing down the local government, but said it would not target oil fields there.
South Sudan became independent on July 9 after a referendum agreed under a 2005 peace deal with its former civil war foe Khartoum but has been struggling to end rebel and tribal violence, which has killed around 3,000 people this year.
On Saturday, the rebel South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA)said it had attacked Mayom town in Unity state which is home to most of the country's oil fields and a pipeline running to Sudan's Red Sea export terminal.
South Sudan produces around 300,000 barrels a day. Oil makes up 98 percent of state revenues in the underdeveloped African nation.
The group -- one of several rebel groups -- has called on the United Nations, which runs large aid operations in South Sudan, to leave Unity and neighboring Warrap state to escape fighting. The U.N. says it plans to stay.
SSLA spokesman Gordon Buey said on Tuesday rebels had moved closer to the state capital Bentiu since Saturday and were now attacking army positions.
"At the moment fighting is going on in Nhialdew, only 25 km from Bentiu. There are around 5,000 SPLA (southern army) forces stationed there. We have around 2,400. If we capture Nhialdew then we will march on Bentiu," he said.
Buey said the SSLA wanted to bring down the local government to end what he described as widespread corruption. But he said the rebel forces would not attack oil facilities in Unity state bordering Sudan.
"The oil fields will not be a target because we are not fighting to destroy our country. There is no point targeting our own resources," he said.
Southern army spokesman Philip Aguer confirmed fighting took place in Nhialdew on Monday but said he was not aware of clashes on Tuesday.
"There were clashes with this militia group yesterday in Nhialdew. Four militiamen were killed and two policeman," he said.
Mac Paul, deputy director of military intelligence in South Sudan's army, said SSLA forces had entered the country by slipping over the border with Sudan on October 27 as the Sudanese army, or SAF, was providing training and equipment.
"(The SSLA) are under the responsibility of the SAF military intelligence," he said.
The SSLA and Khartoum have both denied Sudan provides any support to the rebels.
But Buey said some senior members of the rebel group were currently in the northern capital. "The cadres of the SSLA are in Khartoum as refugees," he said.
(Reporting by Hereward Holland; Writing by Ulf Laessing)
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