At least 15 people have been killed in Gok State in fighting that officials say was started by a cattle raid, a senior police officer and a lawmaker said Monday.
Colonel Martin Matur, the acting police commissioner, told Radio Tamazuj that the attacks began Saturday when armed raiders believed to be from Duony County attacked a village in Cueibet County and stole eight cows.
Cueibet gunmen retaliated that day, he added.
“15 people including a woman have been killed from both sides. Also, 14 people who sustained injuries have been rushed to hospital for treatment,” Martin explained.
The senior police officer has sent a warning to cattle rustlers saying the police would not hesitate to administer harsh punishment to those who will be caught in the act.
Martin said police officers are working to arrest the perpetrators of cattle rustling.
Zachariah Riak Mathen, the deputy speaker of Gok state legislative assembly confirmed the incident saying 15 people had been killed. "The fighting was triggered by a cattle raid incident,” he said.
The state lawmaker pointed out that the incident occurred on Saturday in Agany, an area located a few kilometers away from Cueibet.
The deputy speaker further said security forces were dispatched to the area to control the situation, while urging the two communities to live in peace and harmony.
Livestock-keeping communities in South Sudan routinely engage in cattle raids, which observers say have become more deadly because the pastoralists switched from using spears and arrows to using guns.