The acting minister of foreign affairs has denied any involvement of his government's forces in the attack on Gambella, Ethiopia which killed over 140 people as well as 60 attackers.

Gbandi told reporters said the authorities in Ethiopia confirmed the government in South Sudan was not responsible for the attack, which further included over 100 children abducted.

Ethiopian authorities have accused elements of the Murle tribe from South Sudan of carrying out the attack, though there are still questions of which group of Murle were involved and if other elements participated as well.

"Although this attack has been attributed to some elements which are inside South Sudan, I am happy that this has been confirmed by the authorities in Ethiopia that the government in South Sudan has no hand in that," Gbandi said. "These were bandits and it is our responsibility as a government of South Sudan to fight whoever are bandits."

"We defiintely work very hard to rescue these children, these abducted children and return them, even the cattle, this is our responsiblity," he added.

Gbandi said the Chief of Staff of the SPLA has been in contact with Ethiopia's military chief and that South Sudanese President Salva Kiir yesterday called Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to express his condelences.

"I want to extend our condolences as the government of South Sudan for this unfortunate massacre which has happened in Ethiopia, and our hearts are with them," Gbandi said.

He said the government of South Sudan will in no way allow any criminals to go and misbehave in any other country, and said they are cooperating with the Ethiopians in hopes of monitoring the border jointly to minimize any future incidents.

Gbandi did not specifically say who was responsible for the attack from South Sudan, but noted that proliferation of small arms and cattle rustling is common and that civilians must be disarmed by the upcoming transitional government.

He also said the attackers have been "terrorizing our people" in South Sudan prior to the latest attack.