A newly released Human Rights Watch (HRW) report accuses government forces and allied militia in South Sudan of grave war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in Unity State in April 2015. Among the atrocities documented in the 42-page report are killings and rapes of civilians, and the burning of towns and villages.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and militia groups swept through Unity State in a destructive campaign against rebel-held territory controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in-Opposition. Over 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the violence, worsening the issues of displacement faced by the country.

Soldiers and militia, primarily from the Bul Nuer ethnic group, terrorized civilians living in Unity State, shooting unarmed citizens even as they fled. The fighters also destroyed many food stores and seeds.

The Report notes that the Human Rights Organization documented “approximately 60 unlawful killings of civilians,” which included people who were hanged, shot, burned alive, and crushed by tanks.

Displaced civilians in Unity State’s Mayendit and Panyijiar counties revealed to Human Rights Watch that government forces carried out several atrocities in the region, “including killings, abductions of women and girls, theft of cattle, and burning and looting of property.” These actions—the deliberate targeting of civilians in acts of murder and rape—constitute war crimes under international law. As noted in the report, murder and rape may also constitute crimes against humanity.

Daniel Bekele, African director at Human Rights Watch, noted, “The devastating offensive in Unity State is the latest in a conflict characterized by shocking disregard for civilian life.”

The report concludes that a likely motivation behind the thorough and systematic violence in Unity State is the large-scale displacement of populations from these villages. Government fighters effectively eliminated any chances of renewed livelihoods in these areas by burning villages to the ground, and destroying and pillaging existing food sources.

Civilians have been caught in the middle of the fighting since the conflict in South Sudan erupted in December 2013, and divided large swaths of the country’s population into warring factions along ethnic lines. Since fighting began between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to Vice President Riek Machar, the UN estimates that two million people have fled their homes and 100,000 are now displaced.