About 55 head of cattle were stolen during a raid by a group of gunmen in Pochalla County of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area on Monday evening, authorities said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Ochudho Ochan, the acting county commissioner, said: "The herd of cattle was taken from a grazing area in Otallo village of Adongol Payam on Monday at 4 pm. No one was killed or injured during the incident because there was no confrontation between the raiders and herdsmen during the raid."
The local official blamed the raid on armed bandits from GPAA’s Pibor County, and that the local youth unsuccessfully chased the raiders to recover the stolen animals.
The county police inspector, Lt. Colonel Amati Ochan, confirmed the incident and said no arrests have been made.
“Those 55 cows belong to King Akway Akway Agada. They were raided at the outskirts of his palace in Otallo. We suspect the attackers are bandits from neighboring Pibor.”
For his part, Judi Jonglei, the former speaker of the GPAA legislative council, who hails from Pibor, denied knowledge of the incident.
“I am not aware of the incident. And no such incident will occur because the Anyuak community does not keep cattle. This is just a fabrication,” he replied.