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KIIR ADEM - 29 Mar 2013

Conflicting reports on Kiir Adem death toll

Contradictory reports were circulating yesterday regarding the death toll of an attack by gunmen on horseback in the disputed border area of Kiir Adem last Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Gok Machar has accused SAF of failing to withdraw.

It was previously claimed by South Sudan’s Army spokesperson, Philip Aguer, that there were 3 casualties. 

However, local authorities have since claimed that the attack killed 6 people and was carried out by militias affiliated with the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) known as locally ‘Abu-Tira’.

The Gok Machar county commissioner, Kuol Athuai, told Radio Tamazuj that two of the victims were civilians, four were policemen while another two civilians were injured and are currently receiving treatment at Gok Machar hospital.

Athuai subsequently claimed that SAF have not yet fully withdrawn from mile 14, even though South Sudan’s SPLA withdrew their forces earlier last week.

Both countries pledged earlier this month to implement a demilitarisation commitment signed in September last year in order to create a ‘buffer zone’ along their shared border.

The picture shows the Kiirkou Bridge on the Bahr El Arab/Kiir River, just north of Warguet.

Related: Sudans’ armies withdraw from White/Upper Nile border (25 March 2013)