Five killed, 13 others injured in S. Sudan highway ambush
August 2, 2017 (JUBA) – Five people were killed and 13 others injured in an ambush that took place along South Sudan’s major highway connecting it to neighbouring Uganda, officials said on Wednesday.
The usually busy highway is the economic lifeline for South Sudan, which imports almost everything from neighbouring nations.
No group has, however, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack often blamed on the armed opposition troops and its allied forces.
The spokesperson for the armed opposition faction loyal to former First Vice-President, Riek Machar said he was unaware of the attack.
“There were no any SPLA IO soldiers sent to attack public transport buses on the Nimule- Juba highway, so we are not responsible for today’s road ambush,” Paul Lam Gabriel told Radio Tarmajuz.
The attackers, according to the army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang hit civilian convoy escorted by the military on the Juba-Nimule highway.
Two of the gunmen, he said, died during fire exchange with military officers.
Wednesday’s attack is the latest in the series of similar ambushes on the 192-km highway that connects the South Sudan capital, Juba with neighbouring Uganda and the East Africa region in general.
(ST)