6 killed, 11 injured in attack on aid vehicle near S. Sudan’s Juba
July 5, 2006 (JUBA) — At least six people were killed and 11 wounded when gunmen ambushed a German aid agency vehicle in southern Sudan, witnesses said Wednesday, highlighting insecurity in the region.
Five Sudanese teenagers riding in the back of a pick-up belonging to the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and one attacker were shot dead in the incident, which took place on Monday, they said.
In addition to the casualties, one man, a Kenyan surveyor working for GTZ, was reported missing after the attack on the vehicle about 19 kilometers (12 miles) west of Juba, the provisional capital of southern Sudan, they said.
About 30 gunmen, believed to be members of Uganda’s notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) stormed the truck carrying non-German GTZ employees and security guards and about 20 passengers, the witnesses said.
“They were shooting bullets all around us,” said Paul Agos, a Sudanese security guard for GTZ who was in the vehicle. “I fell off the truck and shot one of them. Then they all fled into the bush.”
Witnesses said the attackers, some of whom were uniformed, were rebel fighters with the LRA, which has waged a nearly 20-year war in northern Uganda and southern Sudan but is now preparing for peace talks with Kampala.
They said the gunmen spoke the Acholi dialect of northern Uganda and that the attack took place in an area known to be frequented by the rebels, but the identities of the attackers could not be independently confirmed.
This is the second time since last June that the LRA rebels are accused of committing attacks in southern Sudan.
The Ugandan rebel group on 13 June denied being involved in an attack on the outskirts of the south Sudanese capital Juba on Sunday 11 June night where nine people killed by gunmen.
The attack occurred on Sunday 11 June at about 10 p.m. (1900 GMT) in the Gumba area on the east bank of the Nile and a few miles from the city centre. Nine people were wounded, including two children and five women.
The LRA accused the Ugandan government of attempting to undermine the South Sudan government peace initiative to bring peace in Uganda.
Herbert Kremeier, GTZ’s Kenya-based program director for southern Sudan, said the attack underscored the agency’s concern for its employees’ safety in the region where it is building a road from Juba to the town of Bor.
“GTZ is concerned about security,” he said at the group’s offices in Juba where the bullet-riddled truck was brought after the ambush. “It has been an issue.”
Kremeier said a search, backed by UN helicopters, was underway for the missing Kenyan surveyor, Daniel Wekesa.
(ST)