The police are investigating three Sudanese traders for their alleged involvement in the defilement and killing of a minor girl in Aweil town of Northern Bahr al Ghazal State, a local official said.

The arrests follow the incident involving a six-year-old girl who was reportedly defiled and killed allegedly by a foreign trader, leading to a violent protest in Aweil town on Wednesday.

The angry town residents targeted Sudanese traders after reports circulated that one of the foreign merchants molested and mutilated the young girl before dumping her body parts in a pit latrine in the Ayuang residential area in Aweil town on Tuesday evening.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, the State Information Minister, William Anyuon Kuol, said the three are now under police custody.

He identified the suspects as Sabir Abdalla Abusam with his two other colleagues who allegedly tried to conceal the crime.

“After he [Sabir Abdalla] raped and saw the child, he talked with his other suspected brothers namely Ahmed Hassan Adam and Omer Mohammed Omar so that they conceal information on the child’s death,” he explained.

Mr. William Anyuon stated that it is not the first time Mr Sabir has been accused of the act in the area. He said the key suspects will be produced in court as soon as possible.

Anyuon further said several youths who planned to retaliate were arrested but later freed.

“Of course, many youths were arrested so that they would not cause something bad like the killing of people, but all the youth were freed and none of them is in the police custody,” he said.

For his part, the Sudanese Community Leader in the State, Nurain Yosif described their situation as normal.

“The Sudanese community in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State is very safe except Wednesday when there were some minor incidents but were contained and now we are all fine,” he said.

Meanwhile, the head of civil society in the area, Santino Deng Ngong, condemned the incident.

He called for an unhindered and independent judicial process into the case.

“This is an unfortunate incident, a very bad and strange incident that has never happened in the State. As civil society organizations, we condemn it and we want the law to take its course so that the right of this child and the right of the family, the preserved,” Deng said.