CAIRO — A cholera outbreak in a southern Sudanese city killed nearly 60 people and sickened about 1,300 others over the last three days, health authorities said Saturday.

The outbreak in the southern city of Kosti was blamed mainly on contaminated drinking water after the city’s water supply facility was knocked out during an attack by a notorious paramilitary group, the health ministry said. The group has been fighting the country’s military for about two years.

The ministry said in a statement the disease killed 58 people and sickened 1,293 others between Thursday and Saturday in Kosti, 4261 miles south of the capital, Khartoum.

The ministry said it has taken a series of measures to fight the outbreak, including launching a vaccination campaign against cholera in the city, which lies on the west bank of the White Nile River, opposite Rabak, the capital of White Nile province.

The ministry said it also expanded the capacity of an isolation center.

— The Associated Press