By Skye Wheeler

JUBA, Sudan, Nov 30 (Reuters) - A Sudanese employee of medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres and his father were among those killed while trying to escape tribal violence that erupted inside an MSF hospital in south Sudan, the group said on Friday.

James Agut, an MSF guard who had been in hospital in the southern town of Bor seeking medical treatment when the violence occured, was among four people attacked while in a car inside the MSF compound and killed, MSF said in a statement.

A senior Sudanese official said three other Sudanese had also been beaten to death outside the MSF compound, bringing the total death toll in Thursday's violence to seven.

"The mob broke into the MSF compound, saw the people were locked up in the car, broke the windows and then beat them to death. Four were killed. Another three were killed outside," said Philip Thon Leek, governor of Jonglei state where the violence occurred. He said he had seen all seven bodies.

MSF, which made no mention of any deaths outside of its compound, said Agut was among eight Sudanese patients and family members, including a baby, who were evacuated from the hospital after tribal fighting broke out inside.

The group fled to an MSF vehicle that was outside the hospital but within the MSF compound and were attacked while they were in the car. Of those in the car, four were killed, one injured and three including the baby escaped unharmed because they hid under the car's benches, MSF said.

MSF called the killings an "outrageous act" that would affect its ability to provide medical care in Bor hospital.

"The disrespect shown by the people who chose to extend their fighting into the hospital and our compound is absolutely intolerable," said Meinie Nicolai, Operational Director for MSF in Brussels.

TRIBAL CONFLICT SPILLOVER

The violence was a spillover from an ethnic conflict over cattle that had broken out between members of the Murle tribe and the Bor Dinka on Wednesday in which more than two dozen people were killed, Leek said.

He said 27 people had been killed and 39 wounded when members of the Murle tribe attacked a Bor Dinka cattle camp, and that wounded from both sides had been taken to the same ward of the MSF hospital in Bor, leading to a fracas.

Tribal violence has continued to plague the semi-autonomous south Sudan, which is rife with small weapons, despite a 2005 peace agreement that ended a north-south civil war in which 2 million people died and 4 million were displaced.

The violence followed tribal conflict in July in which cattle raids and revenge attacks in Jonglei state killed 56.

MSF said at the time of the killings, it had been treating 23 people brought in overnight with injuries sustained in clashes between tribes, but gave no further details.

"From our compound and inside the hospital we treat everybody who needs medical care and people from different tribes often lie side by side in the wards," Nicolai said.

MSF said most staff were being flown out of Bor for counselling, although it planned to keep a small team in the hospital to minimise interruption to its medical services.

Leek said soldiers had been deployed in Bor town -- dominated by the Bor Dinka but increasingly home to a mix of ethnic groups -- to stop further fighting. But he said some Murle planned to leave the town fearing for their lives. (Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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