The police in Awerial County of Lakes State say the Episcopal Church of South Sudan church in Kal-thok Payam was torched by an unknown person in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, the police chief inspector of Awerial County Bol Tier said a security team sent to assess the damage reported that the church was completely burnt to ashes.

"A team comprising of the police inspector, executive director of Awerial County, and military intelligence went to Kal-thok Payam to see the church and it was completely burned," he said.

Tier ruled out that the suspected arson attack is not linked to the detention of nine people in Gulyar, saying the nine are accused of inciting inter-communal hostilities between Roor-juba and Akock-achok sections of the Kal-thok Payam. 

The pastor in charge of the church in Kal-thok Payam, David Aboor said the culprit remains unknown.

"We suspect nobody. This is God's church. We want people to mobilize whatever they have to start rebuilding the church," said the secretary-general of the Kal-thok church Aluong Nyarar.