Security officials have arrested a Terekeka County chief in connection with an ambush earlier this week that left eight traders dead, according to Radio Miraya.

The traders were killed as they traveled by boat from a Terekeka cattle market to Bor and the animals were stolen. Their bodies were found floating in the Nile.

The main suspects are youth from a cattle camp near where the attack took place, according to Terekeka County Commissioner Jacob Gore, and they are holding the chief so he can assist security officers.

“Without arresting the chiefs, we will not get the criminals,” Gore told Radio Miraya.

This follows a raid last week on a cattle camp in Terekeka County’s Tali Payam.

Following that attack, in which 50 heads of cattle were stolen, Payam Administrator Ezekiel Elly called for calm.

“My people are patient,” he told Radio Miraraya. “We talked to them so that they cannot go revenge or also go and make the same thing, bring cows from the other side.”

It is not yet clear if the two incidents are related.