Local officials have said that at least 169 people have been killed after dozens of armed men attacked a town in South Sudan’s Ruweng Administrative Area.
The area’s Information Minister, James Monyluak Mijok has confirmed said that a group of unidentified youths from Mayom County in neighbouring Unity state stormed Abiemnhom County and said that out of those killed, 82 were children, women and the elderly while 50 other people sustained major and minor injuries.
“I would like to sadly inform you that among those killed included the county commissioner and the executive director,” Mijok said.
The Minister of Health in northern Ruweng, Elizabeth Achol, told journalists that all 169 bodies were today laid to rest in a mass grave but said that the death figure toll may increase further if more bodies are discovered.
The official earlier said that the fighting lasted for three to four hours, before the Army was able to drive the attackers out of the area and the Abiemnhom authorities were now in complete control.
“The Government of the Ruweng Administrative Area (GRAA) condemned this barbaric action and policy of extermination in the strongest terms. This human slaughter is equivalent to genocide and cannot be tolerated,” Mijok told journalists and he called on the government of Unity state to bring the culprits to justice.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) expressed alarm over the surging violence in Abiemnhom over the past 48 hours where 23 people were injured in an attack
“In response to the deteriorating security situation, peacekeepers are temporarily sheltering over 1,000 civilians within the UNMISS base in the area and providing emergency medical care to the injured,” UNMISS added.
The violence highlights concerns, including from the UN, of deepening instability since the arrest of former First Vice President Riek Machar a year ago.
Additional Reporting by Associated Press.
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