A 15-year-old boy and three women were wounded on Saturday in Jur River County’s Bahrabik Market in Western Bahr el Ghazal State, the police said.
Major General Abednego Akol Ayuong, the state police commissioner, told Radio Tamazuj over the weekend that the incident occurred when a soldier from the SPLA-IO entered the market with a hand grenade and detonated it upon seeing Military Intelligence personnel.
“What happened on Saturday at around 9 a.m. is that a soldier from the SPLA-IO entered the market maybe to take tea but at the same time, there were soldiers from Military Intelligence there. When he saw the soldiers, he detonated the grenade which wounded the women who were preparing tea and a boy,” he explained. “The intelligence officers were not wounded, but one of the three wounded women is in critical condition at Wau Teaching Hospital. We sent our police team there and they took the wounded to the hospital.”
According to Gen. Akol, the culprit is on the run but the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is searching for him.
“We have dispatched the CID to follow him because after committing the crime, he ran away. We are following him and have opened a case against him because he is well known and from SPLA-IO,” he stated. “We are coordinating with the SPLA-IO. However, we do not want to expose his name at this early stage and before he is apprehended.”
The police chief added: “We are also coordinating with the local chiefs to find him.”