Separate groups of gunmen twice ambushed a truck traveling from Maridi to Yei around noon on Friday, stealing belongings, according to one of the travellers.
The traveller said masked men suddenly came from the bush in Ferik Sika, forced the car to stop, and demanded at gunpoint that the passengers immediately hand over all money and phones.
The gunmen took eight phones and an unidentified amount of cash before they disappeared in the bush and let the car continue, the traveller said.
Less than two hours later another armed group who described themselves as forces of the SPLA-IO stopped the same car and took the remaining mobile phones from the travellers.
“This time they detained us for four hours but they did not hurt us,” one of the passengers said.
The leader of the group, which carried AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades, said they were taking their phones for security reasons only.
“We belong to SPLA-IO,” the leader of the second group told them, the passenger said.