Atleast 15 people killed, 11 others wounded in Jonglei’s weekend attacks

About 15 people have been killed and a dozen others left with gunshot wounds after armed criminals attacked parts of Jonglei State on Friday and Saturday.

Nyirol County Director for Information and Communication, Biel Jiek Lual, said in a statement that the criminals who came from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area left a trail of destruction and death. They killed and maimed residents, abducted children during the attack, and went on a looting spree.

“On January 6, at exactly 4 p.m., armed youth of the GPAA attacked Pajut Payam in Uror County, where they killed seven individuals and wounded eight people in critical condition,” Jiek noted in the statement.

“Also, at 10 p.m., [armed group believed to be from Murle] attacked Motot Payam, Uror County, and killed two people and wounded one person. “In the same night (January 6) at 5 p.m., they attacked Pamai Payam, Uror County, and killed two people and wounded two others,” said Jiek.

He alleged that the attackers abducted three children—one girl and two boys—during the Tiam and Wuergot boma attacks.

Jiek said the attackers attempted to raid cattle, which were later recovered by the area youth.

 “They wounded one person on the site of Nyirol County this morning,” the official said, adding that suspicion that the attackers came from GPAA built up when one of them got killed by the area youth.

He said the armed criminals also attacked parts of Akobo County, which resulted in the killing of four people.

He condemned the killings and called on the government to deal with the criminals to allow peace to prevail.

However, Abraham Kalang Jiji, GPAA information minister, dismissed the accusations, saying youth from the GPAA were in Lekuangole and had not carried out such attacks.

“[It] is not true that our youth carry out attacks in those parts of Jonglei State because currently, we have conflict in our land. On January 7, we had an attack in parts of Lekuangole,” he said.  

He added that some areas of the GPAA are still experiencing attacks carried out by armed youth from Greater Pibor.  

Kalang urges the national government to put much attention to the Jonglei and GPAA conflicts for peaceful cohesion.