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AKOBO - 22 Sep 2017

Rebels say captured gov’t commissioner, 25 soldiers in Bieh

About 25 government soldiers and a county commissioner have been captured in Akobo area of South Sudan’s Bieh State, the rebels said on Thursday.

John Daniel Bol, the rebel-pointed minister of information in Bieh State, told Radio Tamazuj that the government-appointed commissioner of Dengjok County, Tut Chany Riek who was leading 25 soldiers was captured in Kobo on Wednesday.

He said the captives including the commissioner are still in the hands of rebel fighters in Akobo, adding that they will be investigated pending trial. He pointed out that the group left Waat and headed toward Akobo where they were ambushed and captured.

Daniel claimed that the group was planning to cause instability in Dengjok County in greater Akobo County.

Separately, the opposition official accused government troops of launching offensives on areas around Waat town after 200 soldiers allegedly defected to the opposition recently.

South Sudan descended into civil war in 2013, only two years after independence, when Kiir removed his deputy, Riek Machar.

Machar is being held in South Africa to prevent him from going back to his country. The decision was reportedly reached by IGAD countries in order to keep him away in the hope of preventing fighting in the world’s youngest nation.