New battles in South Sudan capital

South Sudan's Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin says there was renewed fighting in the capital, Juba, early Tuesday as the military "cleared out remnants" of a faction of soldiers accused of mounting a coup attempt allegedly led by the former vice president.

He told The Associated Press that the military had arrested five political leaders with suspected links to the failed plot but that more were yet to be traced. He said the coup was plotted by "disgruntled" soldiers and politicians led by former Vice President Riek Machar.

At least 26 civilians were killed in clashes between rival army factions, according to Juba Teaching Hospital sources. That number is expected to rise after the military releases casualty figures from its barracks hospital, which is off-limits to journalists and independent observers. 

The U.S. State Department Tuesday ordered all non-essential staff out of South Sudan immediately and issued a travel warning to U.S. citizens because of the political and social unrest.

The streets of the capital, Juba, were deserted Tuesday, with only military vehicles to be seen and civilians barricaded in their homes. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported that thousands of civilians have fled the city.

Marial said Machar is in hiding.

The suspected soldiers attacked the South Sudanese military headquarters near Juba University late on Sunday, sparking sporadic clashes that continued on Monday, President Salva Kiir said.

He vowed on Monday that the alleged coup plotters would face justice. The hunt for Machar threatens to send the world's youngest country into further political upheaval after months of a power struggle between Kiir and his former deputy.

Tension had been mounting in South Sudan since Kiir fired Machar in July. The men belong to different ethnic groups — Kiir to the Dinka, the most powerful, and Machar to the Nuer.

Machar, who has expressed a willingness to contest the presidency in 2015, told Al Jazeera in July that if the country is to be united, it cannot tolerate "one man's rule (and) it cannot tolerate dictatorship."

His firing, along with Kiir's dismissal of the entire cabinet, followed reports of a power struggle in the ruling party.

At the time, the United States and the European Union urged calm amid fears that the dismissals could spark political upheaval in the country.

Kiir is the leader of the ruling party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, and many of the dismissed ministers, including Machar, were key figures in the rebel movement that fought the decades-long war of secession from Sudan that led to South Sudan's independence in 2011.

Machar, a deputy chairman of the ruling party, is one of the country's most influential politicians.

South Sudan has experienced bouts of ethnic violence, especially in rural Jonglei state, since independence.

Al Jazeera and wire services