A woman was shot dead and her 7-year-old child abducted in Torit West County of South Sudan’s Torit State on Monday, an official said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Torit West Commissioner Lodoviko Oryem Albert said the woman was ambushed by unknown gunmen believed to be from neighboring Boma State.
“I received information that a woman was shot on the road. She was with her two children. The 7-year-old was taken and the younger one was left alive tied on her back. It happened near Lolere Bridge along the road going direct towards the military barracks,” he said.
Oryem claimed that the cases of child abduction have been on the rise saying about seven children have been abducted since last month.
“This is the third time it has happened. Two children were taken from Loulang on the 6th of last month and on the 10th one child was taken from Ofiriha. On the 6th of this month, three children were taken from Lowoi junction in a place called Ilietu totaling to seven children now taken from Torit West County,” he lamented.
Oryem said they have informed Boma authorities of the incident and urged them to ensure the abducted children are returned to their families.
Torit state governor Tobiolo Alberio Oromo confirmed the incidents and accused Boma state’s Murle community of abductions and killings in his state.
“The governor of Boma tried his level best but they are just continuing. This is the problem we have. We need technical advice from partners on how we shall go about this,” he said.
Governor Alberio called on development partners to intervene and help find solutions to the issue saying about 60 children have been abducted from Torit state.
For his part, John Kaka, Boma State information minister told Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that they have received information about the incident and are investigating.
“We need enough details that it is the people of Boma state because there is nothing that indicates that the people of Boma are the ones responsible. We have no problem, we heard that there is a child abducted, we are still working on it, if we find him, we will return him but if we don’t find him we will just tell them that we haven't found him.”
He urged Torit state authorities to also conduct their investigations to establish the perpetrators saying sometimes they are unfairly accused.