11 killed, scores injured in South Sudan ambush

January 26, 2015 (JUBA) – At least 11 people were killed and several others injured in an ambush in South Sudan’s Western Bahr el Ghazal state on Saturday, an official has confirmed.

“The incident occurred along Wau-Raja road on Saturday as commissioner James Benjamin was attacked,” governor Rizik Zakariah Hassan told reporters in the state capital, Wau, on Sunday.

“The commissioner’s car was able to move for about 20 minutes from the scene of the attack and broke down,” he added.

Several bullets were reportedly fired at the car before an army battalion was sent from Raja county to the scene, where a number of bodies were subsequently recovered.

“In one car, four bodies were found and in another car, five men were found with their throats slit,” Hassan said.

At least four journalists, including the head of Raja radio, were among those killed.

Hassan blamed rebels, allegedly clad in South Sudanese army (SPLA) uniforms and speaking a well-known dialect, of carrying out the attack.

However, he said SPLA forces were still pursuing the attackers in the forest.

The Union of Journalists in South Sudan (UJOSS) extended its condolences to the families of the deceased, the media fraternity and South Sudanese people following Sunday’s attack.

In a statement, UJOSS strongly condemned the “barbaric” killing of innocent people, urging authorities at all levels to launch an investigation and hold those responsible to account.

(ST)