By MACHEL AMOS in Juba | Sunday, October 20
2013 at
18:58
At least 33 people have been killed and more than 60
others wounded in a suspected militia attack on remote villages in South
Sudan’s Jonglei State on Sunday, officials have said.
David Yau Yau rebels, in coordination with the
Murle tribesmen of Pibor County, allegedly attacked Paker, Ajuong and
Maar payams in the neighbouring Twich East County at dawn and shot at
random before driving off several heads of cattle.
“The attack happened this morning in Payam called
Maar around 9:15 hours, according to the local information. Local
chiefs’ say they have seen 33 bodies,” an official from South Sudan Red
Cross in Jonglei said.
“Exactly the 20 wounded are there and then the
other information we are getting says that more than 40 other wounded
are also laying on ground and need to be verified,” he told the
UN-sponsored Radio Miraya.
Local sources say houses were set ablaze during
the attack. Some of the places remained inaccessible due to fear the
attackers hadn’t left.
“Maybe there is eventually a number of people
drowned into the water especially children, woman and elderly because
the attackers got (into) all payams and pushed everybody in the swampy
areas,” Mr Gai said.
Twich East County Commissioner, Dau Akoi Jurkuch ,
said the attackers were a large force, many of whom in green military
uniform. Mr Dau said the reports on the death toll were preliminary and
that the number could rise.
David Yau Yau’s rebel group, essentially made up
of mainly tribal loyalists from the Murle of Pibor County, has been
destabilizing Jonglei State for the last two years.
President Salva Kiir this year granted amnesty to
militia leaders and their forces, but Mr Yau Yau declined to accept the
amnesty.
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
