Nearly 250 gunmen believed to be from SPLA-IO soldiers stopped a commercial vehicle traveling from Juba to Mundri on Thursday afternoon, according a passenger.
The source disclosed that the incident occurred near Surmoni area. The armed men stopped the vehicle which carrying 12 passengers including women and a child.
The armed men detained the passengers for nearly 24 hours from around 2:00 p.m. Thursday to 2:00 p.m. Friday.
The gunmen stole everything from the passengers including IDs, mobile phones, clothes, shoes and documents. They also stole food items.
The detained passengers reported that they spent the whole day without food. The vehicle reached Mundri on Friday at 5PM with empty-handed passengers.
“It was a very hard time for us,” one of the passengers said.
This is the second such incident to take place along the Juba–Mundri road in less than a week.
Some three days ago, another commercial vehicle ran into an ambush and its whereabouts remain unknown.