Two men were killed in a road ambush in Nyirol County of Jonglei State on Wednesday, local officials said.
James Bol Makuey, the Nyirol County commissioner, told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that the dead were among a group of locals traveling from the county headquarters, Lankien town, to Cwil Payam when they were attacked.
“What happened on Wednesday at 3 pm was that a group of people was ambushed at a place called Thakral while they were moving to Cwil Payam from Lankien. Two men were killed and the rest escaped unhurt,” he said.
Commissioner Bol faulted armed youth suspected to have come from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) for the attack.
“The survivors who were scattered in the bush after the ambush were the ones who came to us with the information that they were attacked by some Murle criminals from GPAA,” he said. “So, we urge our (GPPA) counterparts to talk to their youth just as we tell our youth not to go and carry out attacks in Pibor.”
On his part, Brig. Gen. John Deng, the Nyirol County police inspector, confirmed the incident and said they dispatched security personnel to the crime scene.
“The incident happened yesterday (Wednesday) at 3 pm. No one was arrested because the incident happened in the bush and it was carried out by criminals from Pibor,” he said. “This (Thursday) morning at 9 am, we sent police there and they recovered one dead body.”
Meanwhile, GPAA information minister Abraham Kelang said they were not aware of the incident.
“As a government, we are not aware of this incident. Our counterparts in Jonglei state did not inform us,” he said. “So, we cannot conclude that our youth were indeed involved in the killings.”
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