Five killed in Juba-Kajo keji highway ambush

October 27, 2015 (JUBA) – At least five people were shot dead while traveling from the South Sudan capital, Juba to Central Equatoria state town of Kajo-Keji, the police said.

“The ambush happened at about 12 noon on Monday and unfortunately five people were killed,” he told Sudan Tribune over phone Tuesday.

Enocka disclosed that a person was also killed on Sunday at the same scene of the latest ambush and that police rescued five others.

“All the belongings of the passengers were looted,” said the police spokesperson.

Unknown gunmen have recently been looting and attacking passengers plying the Juba-Kajo-Keji and the Juba—Yei highways, forcing travelers to opt for local airline means.

The Kuku community from Kajo-Keji vowed to demonstrate over alleged failure by Central Equatoria state authorities to provide adequate security despite repeated raids on roads.

“This is negligence from the authorities and failure to do their basic job of providing security,” James Lodong, a mourner said.

The bereaved relatives, who gathered at Juba teaching hospital mortuary where the bodies were kept were, however, advised by the community leaders not to retaliate.

“We have concluded that the march is equivalent to demonstration and every demonstration has objective and target. We concluded that there are other ways of taking this information to the authorities, not only through demonstration,” said Aggrey Tisa Sabuni, the South Sudanese presidential advisor economic affairs.

“There are other people who are not here whose objectives might be [to target] government offices and therefore take the demonstration as a chance,” he added.

Augustino Jadallah Wani, the acting minister of interior, pledged to ensure that immediate action was taken to avoid future ambushes. But Jadallah said the police and other security agents were overstretched by the country’s overwhelming security threats.

“As you know our country is in war and the police, the army and other organized forces are deployed in warzones and there is no enough force to be everywhere,” he said.

Bodies of those killed, Jadallah said, would be escorted to Kajo-Keji by police for burial.

(ST)