Two underage siblings who were abducted by armed assailants in Jonglei State’s Ayod County on Wednesday have been recovered by local youth, authorities said.
Ayod County Commissioner James Chuol Jiek told Radio Tamazuj that the two siblings aged 7 and 10 were taken away from their residence while their mother was in the garden and that local youth recovered them on Thursday afternoon after clashes.
“These children, a boy and a girl, were abducted from their house while their mother was on a farm. Their abductors were pursued by our local youth who managed to recover the abductees on Thursday afternoon,” he said. “The abductors were found cooking in the bush between Duk and Ayod counties. Our youth attacked them, killed one of them, and then recovered the two siblings after they were left behind.”
Commissioner Chuol blamed the attack on armed youth from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) and urged the local government there to intervene.
Meanwhile, Oleyo Akwer Nyalus, the GPAA information minister, condemned the attack and blamed it on “outcasts” who he said were acting on their own to wreak havoc.
“We are committed to ensuring peaceful coexistence with our neighbors in Jonglei State,” he said. “We will inform our commissioners on the ground to monitor the movements of these criminals so that they are apprehended.”