Unidentified youths in South Sudan’s Pibor region shot dead 15 people, including its commissioner, in the latest outbreak of violence in the country, a senior official confirmed on Wednesday.
The incident occurred on Tuesday as the commissioner of Boma County in Pibor was returning from a visit to a village.
Abraham Kelang, Information Minister of Greater Pibor Administrative Area, stated, “The commissioner and his team went to Nyat village, and on their return, they were ambushed, resulting in the deaths of 15 people, including the commissioner.”
Kelang revealed that the attackers were suspected to be youths from the Anyuak community within the region.
Among the victims were Boma’s deputy army commander, government officials, and the county commissioner’s bodyguards, Kelang disclosed.
South Sudan has been marred by civil war, which erupted two years after gaining independence from Sudan, primarily between the Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups. The conflict, spanning from 2013 to 2018, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Despite the signing of a peace deal in 2018, clashes among various armed groups persist, resulting in significant casualties and displacements of civilians.
The Greater Pibor Administrative Area, where the recent violence occurred, remains one of the regions profoundly affected by ongoing conflict.
Boma County, predominantly inhabited by the Murle ethnic group, has witnessed periodic violence, often involving clashes between the Murle and Anyuak communities or with neighboring Jonglei State’s Nuer or Dinka populations.
The underlying causes of these conflicts often include disputes over cattle rustling and land.
