At least 57 people were killed when armed men launched a dawn raid on a civilian area in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State, a local official said on Friday.
Baliet County Commissioner Joseph Deng told Radio Tamazuj that the attackers struck shortly after 5:30 a.m. in the Adong Payam area, opening fire randomly on residents. He said 65 people were wounded, 29 of them in critical condition.
“A tragic situation unfolded in Adong today,” Deng said. “We are still searching for those who are missing.”
The commissioner said the assailants were believed to have crossed into Baliet from neighbouring Ulang and Nasir counties. He described them as “criminal elements.”
Officials in Ulang and Nasir could not immediately be reached for comment.
Deng said the attackers drove off more than 5,300 head of cattle and that terrified villagers had fled the area.
He said security forces had been on alert in recent weeks, but the scale and timing of the attack caught them off guard.
“We have been witnessing recurring attacks from criminals since the violence in Nasir,” he said. “This early-morning raid was not expected by our forces.”
Baliet County lies roughly 20 km southeast of the state capital, Malakal. Parts of Ulang and Nasir counties have seen fighting this year between armed youth, known as the White Army, and government forces.
Cattle raiding remains a persistent source of violence in South Sudan, where weak law enforcement, heavily armed youth groups and long-standing intercommunal tensions have made it difficult for authorities to curb the practice.