South Sudanese gunmen kill 140 Nuer in Gambella

April 16, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Ethiopian government on Saturday confirmed an attack carried out by armed men from South Sudan’s Buma state indicating the raiders killed 140 people from the Nuer community in Gambella.

Eyewitness told Sudan Tribune that heavily armed thousands of men from the Murle tribe on Friday morning crossed into Ethiopia and simultaneously attacked about 10 different villages inhabited by the Nuer community in Ethiopia.

“140 civilians died in the attack carried out by bandits that crossed from South Sudan,” a statement from the Ethiopian government communications office said on Staurday.

“Ethiopian troops are pursuing the bandits inside South Sudan. 60 of the assailants have been killed so far,” the statement further said.

The residents on Friday said the majority of the victims where women and children. They also said the attackers abducted some children.

They further claimed that the gunmen tried to steal over 600 heads of cattle but fell into ambush from the Cie-Nyajaani sub-section who recovered the livestock.

Ethiopia’s region of Gambela which borders the South Sudan Buma state is inhabited by an important Ethiopian Nuer community.

The region also hosts nearly 300,000 South Sudanese Nuer who fled the three year conflict in the new nation.

Murle and Nuer ethnic group in South Sudan’s Jonglei region used to attack each other in the past years.

(ST)