A police officer standing next to the commercial vehicle burnt by gunmen along Wau-Kuajok road, Nov. 11, 2023 - Courtesy

A trader is counting losses after gunmen looted goods worth millions of pounds and torched a commercial vehicle on the Wau-Kuajok road over the weekend.

According to driver, Jok Bol Anei, the vehicle was carrying goods from Wau in Western Bahr El Ghazal to Lianam in Warrap when he fell in an ambush in Tharkweng.

He says the gunmen looted his goods worth one point eight million South Sudanese pounds before turning the car bearing number plate SSD708 CM into ashes.

Anei is calling on the both governments of Western Bahr el Ghazala and Warrap states to deploy security personnel to safeguard the road between the two states.

The businessman narrated the incident to Eye Radio on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, from Wau town of Western Bahr el Ghazal.

“I was traveling from Wau to Lianam, and was ambushed between Tharkweng and Marial-Bai, they shot the tires of my car, and also they shot the people who were there in the car, this car is a mini truck Land Crosier,” Anei said.

“They looted all the goods and burnt the car to ashes, and the goods in the car were worth SSP 1.8 million, and even some passengers had money and it has been taken by those gunmen,” he said.

When contacted, Warrap state Information Minister William Wol confirmed the Saturday accident to Eye Radio.

“It was the same day on the 11th when a humanitarian worker was killed at 3 pm, and the commercial vehicle was ambushed around 4 pm, looted, and burnt to ash,” said Wol.

“The area is stable now after the two governors met in Wau, and the following instructions were reached by the two states’ leadership reached an agreement to deploy additional SSPDF forces from Division Five and Division Eleven,”  he said.

For the past two weeks, there have been complaints from the road users of insecurity between Wau and Kuajok.