Armed youth suspected to have come from Abyei, along with their allies, carried out an attack on a military camp and a civilian settlement in Buombil village in Twic County of Warrap State on Monday morning, killing five people, a local official said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Twic County Commissioner Simon Aguek said the attack resulted in the tragic loss of two soldiers and three children, while leaving five other soldiers and one woman injured. The injured woman is the mother of the three deceased children, he added.
“Initially, it was unclear who the armed youth were, but we later determined that they were armed youth from Abyei, in alliance with armed youth from Unity State. This group was responsible for the deaths of five soldiers and three young children, in addition to injuring four soldiers and one civilian woman,” he said.
He added, “We reached this conclusion through the discovery of a phone that fell from the attackers during their escape. Calls made from this phone included conversations in the Nuer language and voices with Dinka Ngok accents. I was at Turalei Hospital attending to the victims of the attack, and those with severe injuries have been transferred to Wau for surgery.”
However, Mathiang Wuor, the Commissioner of Rumamer County in the Abyei Special Administrative Area, firmly denied any connection between the youth from his county and the attack. He instead attributed the unprovoked violence to isolated armed criminals in the region.
Wuor clarified, saying, “Our security situation is stable. I am currently in Agok, and we are not facing any issues. What I heard about was the incident in Buombil, which is quite distant from Aneet and Rumamer. Consequently, we cannot ascertain the individuals responsible for the attack.”
He went on to reject the assertions made by the Twic County commissioner that the attack, which led to the deaths of five SSPDF soldiers, three children, and injuries to five others, was the work of armed youth from the Abyei Special Administrative Area.
Wuor stated, “It’s possible that the responsibility lies with a criminal who chose to escape in any direction. Have they apprehended any armed individual from Abyei in connection with the attack? At this point, I cannot provide that information. It’s important to note that this area is quite distant from Rumamer County, and I can confidently affirm that the situation there is stable.”
A land dispute has persisted between the two communities of Abyei and Twic despite mediation attempts by community leaders and authorities.