Angelo Wol Mawien, Information Minister in the proposed Lol State, has denied claims that SPLA soldiers killed four people in separate incidents since the body of one of their colleague was found on Friday in the Al-Salam neighbourhood of Raja town.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Mawien accused unknown gunmen of killing an SPLA soldier last week, adding they also found a policeman brutally killed over the last five days in Raja town.

The government official accused armed groups of targeting people in the area. However, the official admitted that a local youth was shot dead when he refused to be stopped by security agents two days ago.

Mawien confirmed his government’s commitment to carry out investigations into the killings in Raja.

A local resident recounted recently that the four people killed by SPLA soldiers are all youths from the Raja community with one killed Saturday, two on Sunday and another on Monday. He claimed that the soldiers accused their victims of spying for the SPLM-IO rebel group.