Four women and a three-month-old baby boy were held up at gunpoint and abducted in Nyirol County of Jonglei State on Friday, local officials said.
County Police Inspector Brig. Gen. John Deng told Radio Tamazuj over the weekend that the four women and the baby were abducted by gunmen while taking dry fish to Langkien town.
“They were a group of more than 20 women coming from Abong in Baliet County of Upper Nile State to Langkien with dry fish. On reaching an area called Chuwguar under Thol Payam, they were attacked,” Deng said.
The police officer added, “About 16 women who escaped the attack had arrived in Langkienand. So they told us that the attackers are armed youth from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA).”
Meanwhile, Biel Jiek Lual, the county information director and youth leader, also confirmed the attack and called on the GPAA authorities to recover the abductees.
For his part, Nyany Korok, the deputy head of GPAA’s Anti-corruption Commission, said: “As we speak, the entire leadership is in Likuangole where there is no communication network. This incident was not reported to us by our Jonglei state counterparts and we are not aware of the involvement of our youth.”
Abductions of women and children are common practices in Jonglei State. Women and girls are abducted to give birth, boys to be trained as warriors and to join inter-communal fighting and cattle raiding.