Three Sudanese traders shot in South Sudan’s Lakes state

July 18, 2015 (RUMBEK) – Three Sudanese traders from Darfur region running their businesses in South Sudan’s Lakes state capital, Rumbek, have been shot by unidentified gunmen who attacked them in their house on Saturday.

According to Rumbek police’s criminal investigation department (CID), the unknown gunmen stormed the house in a residential area called Akuac in Rumbek town.

“The Victims are Mr. Ibrahim Sharif, Mr. Jamal Yusuf, [and] Mr. Abubakar Abdalla,” a CID officer has confirmed to Sudan Tribune.

He did not say whether the wounds were serious or not, but added that the properties of the victims were looted by the attackers who successfully escaped without being identified.

Due to the shooting there was panic in the town and traders immediately closed Rumbek market in a mixed reaction of fear and protest against the shooting of their business colleagues. No statement has yet come out from the state government in condemnation of the repeated killings targeting foreign traders in the state.

Recently CID reports indicated that there was high increase of crime rate inside the Rumbek town and its surroundings with the public also refusing to share information with the state government’s security agents which make criminal investigations difficult.

The state has also plunged into deadly inter-communal violence with rival clans of the ethnic Dinka community inhabiting the state turning against one another. Hundreds of people have been killed in the cycle of violence for the past few years in revenge killings and dispute over resources.

(ST)