At least 12 people have been killed and eight others injured in fresh attacks in Uror County of South Sudan’s Jonglei State on Tuesday, officials said.
The state information minister, John Samuel Manyuon, told Radio Tamazuj that the early Tuesday morning incident occurred when a heavily armed youth group attacked Karam Payam,
“There was a heavy attack in Karam Payam of Uror by armed criminals from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA). The attack started at 3 am until afternoon,” Manyuon said. “Those criminals came all the way from Karam to Motot, where فhe fighting intensified. We lost 12 people and eight others injured, and three children abducted.”
The minister said the security situation is dire, with residents being displaced.
“There is no single day now in Uror County where you don’t hear of attacks because these criminals have mobile networks which help them to coordinate. So people are on the run, and displacements are huge to towns,” he said.
Uror county commissioner Machot Gatluak Kenyjak, and the county police inspector, Lt. Col. Peter Gatbel Machar, also confirmed the incident and said all the raided animals had been recovered.
“Yiethdeng,Yardit, Ngueny, and Pokum area of Karam were attacked yesterday from 3 am to 8 am, killing four people and injuring and on the way, eight more people were killed in Motot,” Commissioner Machot said.
A vicious cycle of cattle raiding and counter-attacks has plagued the greater Jonglei state.
Insecurity remains rife in the region despite the formation of a coalition government in February 2020.