Twic County executive estimates 40 people killed in cattle raids this year
A top official in the government of Twic County in Warrap State estimates that about 40 people were killed, 38 wounded and 670 cattle stolen in raids launched this year by raiders and militias from Unity State.
Twic County Executive Director Baptist Gum Chol said this is the death toll since January 2014, the first full month after the start of the widespread fighting in neighboring Unity State pitting SPLA troops against defectors and civilian militia.
He said the first attack was on 22 January 2014 at Kharia Akauch, during which raiders wounded 2 civilians and took 300 cattle.
The second attack was at Akong on 8 February, killing one women and one man. The cattle taken in that raid were recovered.
On 1 March, militia attacked Ayen Abiel within Turalei killing 9 and wounding 9 people while taking all cattle in the camp. All but 50 cattle were later recovered by ‘community police,’ he said.
Baptist explained that raiders also attacked on 30 March at Majok Nyoon, killed 14 people, among them 11 women, and also attacked Ajak Kuach and took 11 cattle, without killing anyone.
In another attack on 5 May once again on Majok Nyoon, they killed 11 and wounded 19. They also attacked at Beribik and killed one soldier and wounded 4.
In an interview, the official pointed out that even during cattle raiding in the 1990s they did not kill women and children in his county.
He blamed the rebels for bringing this new brutality into the inter-communal conflict, saying it did not exist before.
File photo
Related coverage:
15 dead in cattle raid in Warrap (17 April)
Brutal attacks across Unity-Warrap border in South Sudan (8 April)