UN sends more peacekeepers to S. Sudan

'Thousands, rather than hundreds' estimated killed in recent bloodshed

The UN Security Council approved plans on Tuesday to almost double the number of peacekeepers in South Sudan in an effort to protect civilians, as reports of mass graves fueled fears of a worsening of ethnic bloodletting in the world's newest nation.

The move came as the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the country said the death toll from the past 10 days of violence was likely now in the thousands, rather than the hundreds the world body had previously estimated.