The Commissioner of Kangapo County, Yei River State, has been abducted by unknown gunmen, the state governor has announced.

David Lokonga Moses says Julius Tabule was abducted in Bori payam Sunday on his way to a funeral service.

“In fact, he went for funerary prayers, but then ended up in the hands of these unknown gunmen who abducted him and we don’t know [where he is],” Tabule told Eye Radio Monday.

“I’m still not getting details, but I’m trying to establish contacts from the ground – the local authorities there –  in Kajo-keji.”

Governor Lokonga didn’t accuse any particular armed groups, but he said the security units were still gathering information on the whereabouts of the commissioner.

Meanwhile, the SPLA spokesperson says the army clashed with some armed men in some parts of Yei River State over the weekend.

Brig-Gen Lul Ruai Koang said the two sides fought in Kargulu, Lasu, and Umbasi villages.

Brig Ruai told Eye Radio that the SPLA was still contacting the commanders from the ground to establish the casualty figures.

He said: “Some armed criminals made an attempt on a number of military hotspots around Yei, but all those attempts were unsuccessful. We’ve not been able to arrest them but we were able to fight them back and we maintained full control of the places they had attempted to take from us. I’m talking of Kargulu, Lasu, and Umbasi.”

Emanuel Joseph Akile contributed to this report.