A cattle keeper protects his herd with an AK-47 somewhere in South Sudan. Presence of arms in the hands of civilians is often said to be one of the reasons clashes recur among the pastoralist communities | Credit | bpnews.net

The death toll from yesterday’s attack in Duk Padiet Payam of Jonglei State has risen to 38 with over 40 reportedly wounded.

Initially, authorities there said the cattle-related attack in Duk Padiet Payam on Friday led to the death of 15 people and 20 others wounded.

However,  according to the Chief Administrator of the area – Elijah Manyok, the fight that lasted for more than 5 hours has now left 38 people dead and 42 others injured.

“Those who were killed are 38, forty-four people were injured and also they raided 20,351 cattle from four cattle camps in Duk Padiet,” Elijah Manyok told Eye Radio on Saturday.

“Those who were injured are in Primary Health Care Center in Duk Padiet and now we are talking with our State government to help rescue those who were injured.”

Manyok called on the national government and humanitarian organizations to rescue those affected by the fighting.

In another incident in Jonglei state, armed men allegedly attacked Pakeer Payam last evening leaving over 25 people injured.

The number of those killed is yet to be confirmed.

Also on Wednesday, armed youth reportedly from the neighboring community also attacked Paliau and Duk Deng Payams of Twic East County – an attack that left 7 people dead and over 20 wounded.