Nhial Bol Aken, a former newspaper chief editor in Juba claimed to have survived an attempted attack by two gunmen who allegedly intended to kill him on Saturday.
Aken said in a statement that two soldiers entered his house at Thongpiny residential area on Saturday morning, forcing him to hide in the room before policemen guarding a commercial bank and neighbours intervened.
“Soldiers attacked me in my house in Thongpiny at 2:00 am …but with help of my son, I managed to escape what I considered a coordinated attack against my life,” he said.
“First, they pulled the main gate, entered the compound and then started calling me by name, Nhial where are you? Then I asked them who are you, one of them responded, I am Majak and we are soldiers, come out, we want you then I looked out and I saw one of them with AK-47, wearing Tiger uniforms,” he explained.
Nhial added, “from there I went hiding inside the room then I asked my son Bol to use internal exit from inside so that he mobilizes the neighbours and the police protecting KCB Bank on the side of the road and within 20 minutes, two neighbours from the eastern side informed me via phone call that they are on the roadside and that I should not attempt to come to open.”
The former editor pointed out that the two soldiers decided to run away after neighbours came out, but one of them was caught and disarmed.
The former journalist pointed out that he opened a criminal case with the police against the two soldiers who claim to be member of the presidential guards.
Aken, who was a vocal editor-in-chief of an independent The Citizen newspaper, quit journalism in 2015, citing personal security and safety concern in Juba.