5 people killed, 7 wounded in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria state
July 18, 2015 (JUBA) – Unknown gunmen ambushed a car carrying unidentified passengers and killed at least five of them on Saturday evening along Juba- Kajokeji road. Seven others were wounded, some seriously.
The attack took place less than ten kilometers away from the national capital, Juba, in Koromla village at around 3pm local time when the “unknown” gunmen opened fire on Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle travelling from Juba to Kajokeji county in Central Equatora state.
“We were just on the way behind the land cruiser in a distance of less than 50 meters when we saw the car went off [the] road while hearing gunshots,” said Kajawe John, a journalist who survived in the attack.
“We could not at the time recognize who were the attackers since the incident just happened suddenly,” he said.
Among the dead, 3 were confirmed women while 2 are men. Both decease and wounded were taken to Juba teaching hospital for postmortem process and treatment, respectively.
Central Equatora state authority did not comment on the matter as nobody yet claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
On 9 July, independence day, gunmen also attacked vehicles on Juba-Yei road, destroying some of them. No human casualty was however reported.
Although the armed opposition faction of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) led by former vice president, Riek Machar, has not claimed responsibility for the attack, they revealed that they were organizing a military base in the area near the capital.
(ST)