The UN refugee agency on Thursday condemned escalating violence in South Sudan's Greater Equatoria region over the past weeks, including recent attacks on Lasu settlement, in which a young Congolese refugee was killed.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), armed groups have repeatedly entered the settlement in recent days and fired shots, assaulted refugees, looted and destroyed humanitarian assets, goods and property.

"Fearing for their lives, some 8,000 refugees fled in panic and dispersed in different directions," UNHCR said in a statement issued in Juba.

The UN said the body of the young Congolese refugee was found by a group of refugee leaders nearby the settlement, which lies some 40 kilometers south of Yei.

It said about 6,500 people have reportedly found refuge in a farmland at Kukuyi, some 6 kilometers north of Lasu, while another 1,400 refugees have scattered along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).

Refugee representatives told UNHCR that 100 people have crossed into DR Congo and settled near the border at Aba, joining another 2,000 Congolese nationals who escaped from Lasu in early September.

UNHCR's Representative in South Sudan, Ahmed Warsame decried these horrific acts that have caused death, fear and suffering of innocent people.

"We urge all armed parties to respect the civilian and humanitarian character of asylum and refugee settlements and call upon the Government of South Sudan to protect the lives of civilian populations, including refugees," Warsame said.

Renewed insecurity in South Sudan has forced more than 195,000 people to flee the country since July 8, bringing the number of South Sudanese refugees in neighboring countries to over 1 million.

In South Sudan, more than 1.61 million people are internally displaced and another 261,000 are refugees from Sudan, DR Congo, Ethiopia, and Central Africa Republic (CAR).

According to UNHCR, armed groups penetrated the Lasu settlement on Monday and ransacked the primary health care center, stealing drugs, medical supplies and furniture.

They also seized radio communication equipment and solar panels used to pump water to private and public facilities in the settlement, leaving the population without drinking water.

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