JUBA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said Saturday it has arrested a number of suspects in the refugee camp in connection with the killing of three people in Juba last week.

UNMISS said in a statement that the arrests were made during a search operation in the Protection of Civilians site next to its base in the capital.

It said the operation was carried out to determine whether individuals allegedly involved in the abduction and killing of three people in the capital last week were located within the camp.

"A number of suspects were apprehended and handed over to the South Sudan National Police Service to investigate further," UNMISS said.

The UN mission said the Protection of Civilians sites exist to shelter South Sudanese people who are under imminent and ongoing threat of physical violence and those who genuinely fear for their lives.

It warned that it will not tolerate people who commit crimes outside and then hide inside the camp behind women and children who need protection.

"The actions of a few must not jeopardize the safety of 39,000 vulnerable people," it said.

South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his former chief Riek Machar led to split within the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), leaving soldiers to fight alongside ethnic lines between the two major ethnic groups Dinka and Nuer to which the two rivals belong respectively.

The 2015 peace agreement to end the conflict was weakened after outbreak of renewed fighting in July 2016 forced the Machar to flee the nation.