At least 169 people have been killed after dozens of armed men attacked a town in South Sudan's Ruweng Administrative Area, local officials said.

James Monyliak Mijok, the area's information minister, said the assault targeted Abiemnhom town after youths from Mayom County in neighboring Unity State stormed the area and engaged in fighting that lasted more than three hours.

"I would like to sadly inform you that among those killed were the County Commissioner and the Executive Director," he said, adding that eighty-two of the deceased were children, women, and the elderly.

"...We managed to bury them this morning... Fifty people sustained major and minor injuries."

Mijok earlier told Anadolu Agency that the fighting lasted three to four hours before the army was able to drive the attackers out of the area. Abiemnhom authorities were now in complete control, he said.

The attack comes amid a surge in violence that is straining South Sudan's fragile 2018 peace agreement. President Salva Kiir signed the deal with his rival Riek Machar to end a five-year civil war that left an estimated 400,000 people dead.

However, implementation of the accord has been slow, and tensions between rival factions persist, with recurring clashes over power-sharing arrangements threatening to unravel the peace process.