Police authorities in the now-defunct Western Lakes State confirmed that three men were killed, two wounded and three women were released unhurt in two separate road ambushes in Paloch Payam of Rumbek East County on Sunday.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, the police spokesperson in Rumbek, Captain Elijah Mabor Makuac, said they suspected the motive of the killing to be an act of revenge and or robbery between Yirol West and Rumbek East Counties of Lakes State. He blamed the attack on criminals from Yirol West County of the defunct Eastern Lakes State.

Mabor said the six victims of Sunday’s ambush, three men and three women, were traveling to Paloch and Rumbek East County headquarters when they were ambushed at a place called Wun Kar cattle camp. The assailants then drove their captives into the bush and killed all the men. The three women were released unhurt.

The police mouthpiece added that when the women were released, they provided the police with clear information about the suspects.

"It is through the information that the police obtained from the three women that we found out that the suspect who killed the men are from Yirol West County,” Mabor said.

He said that on Sunday night, in the same area of Paloch, there was another incident where two people were wounded.

According to Captain Mabor, the cause of frequent road ambushes can be attributed to robbery and revenge attacks by those who lost their loved ones during sectional clashes between Yirol West and Rumbek East Counties of Lakes State.

"There is a special court established to try cases of criminals. This special court was approved and brought from Juba to Lakes State to deal with criminal cases of murder in all areas where there are high crimes of killing," Mabor said.

He noted there is already one special court established in Yirol West County and another one is yet to be established by the state governor.

He urges the aggrieved members of families who lost their loved ones to seek fair justice in the established special court instead of taking law into their own hands. "There is no reason for killing one another in road ambushes while people are united under one governor, Makur Kulang Liei, of Lakes State. People must cease intercommunal hostilities and revenge attacks in road ambushes."