Two children have been abducted and their mother critically injured in a road ambush carried out by armed bandits in Ayod County of Jonglei State on Sunday, local officials said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Lual Gony, the county executive director, said the incident occurred when the armed group attacked the woman with her two children on a road in the western outskirts of the county headquarters, Ayod town on Sunday evening.
“The woman with her two-year-old girl and a three-month-old baby boy left Ayod town for Tok village, but before she could get to her final destination, she was attacked. Her two children were taken from her and she was stabbed with a spear and left unconscious,” Lual said. “The woman is here with us receiving treatment.”
The county official said the area is calm despite the incident, and that the local youth have pursued the attackers to recover the abductees.
For his part, Lt. Peter Gatkuoth, the acting Ayod County police inspector, said they managed to evacuate the critically wounded woman, and that no arrest had been made as the attackers escaped to the bush.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. But cattle raids are common practices, often accompanied by child abductions, among the greater Jonglei communities.