At least one man was killed last week in the outskirts of Hiyalla Village of Torit County in Eastern Equatoria State when an attempted cattle raid was foiled.
The 24-year-old man identified only as Odemi was grazing his animals when he was gunned down. The unidentified attackers fled and local youth tried to pursue them by tracking their footmarks in vain.
The Hiyalla Payam Chief, John Oromo, told Radio Tamazuj, "This is true. The incident happened on Tuesday because the cattle went grazing and armed rustlers were waiting to ambush and steal them. The owners of the cattle foiled the attack and started shooting at the thieves who ran away. One attacker remained behind and shot this boy. Then went after these people and also sent information to the area. They followed these people and the thieves went and climbed the mountain.”
In a separate incident, a woman identified as Iromo Okwahi, 30, was also shot and wounded when unknown armed men ambushed her near Haforiere village according to Tirangore Boma Chief, Senabio Tiya.
Chief Tiya warned the public against launching raids and attacks on other villages to avoid conflicts. He advises the communities to embrace peace.
“They fought there, the people of the patrol know, but some people in the area came and attacked near Haforiere here. They shot a woman. This is true. We are telling people not to go to other people’s villages to launch attacks because it will create conflict. Don’t go to people’s area, that is the advice I am giving them,” said Tiya.
For his part, The Torit County Commissioner, Andrew Philipson, confirmed the incident and said the area youth are still following up the footmarks to establish the origin of the killers.
“The incident of Hiyalla indeed happened and even the woman who was also wounded. I visited the lady in the hospital. There is also a fellow who was killed and this one I have confirmed because they were following the footmarks of the criminals,” Philipson said.
Last week, a group of unknown armed men from the neighboring villages allegedly joined and launched an attack against Iloli village of Hiyalla Payam killing three and leaving one wounded.
The group according to the local sources initially attempted to raid cattle but the area youth were alerted by those on patrol to drive the cattle back to the village.