S. Sudan governor survives another assassination attempt
December 30, 2016 (JUBA) – The Governor of Lol, one of South Sudan’s newly created states, said he narrowly survived an attempt on his life when unknown gunmen attacked the convoy in which he traveled on Thursday.
“Yes, it is true. I was traveling in a convoy of four vehicles when we came under attack and I narrowly managed to get out of the situation after our forces engaged the attackers,” Hassan said Friday.
“We managed to disperse them. This happened in an area called Dambara, some nine miles from Raja”, he added.
According to the governor, none of his guards was hurt, but the vehicles used during the journey sustained some bullets.
“My car received three bullets, but we managed to disperse them,” he said.
The attack on the governor was the second in less than a year. In June, there was an attempt on his life in the same area, but he narrowly escaped the attack when opposition forces overran Raja, the capital of his Lol state.
Hassan has been the governor of Lol state, since 24 December 2015. He is the first governor of the state, created by President Salva Kiir on 2 October 2015. He was previously Governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal state.
(ST)