Three people have been killed by armed assailants in Wau state, the Commissioner of Kwajina County has said.
The attack reportedly took place early this morning when armed youth allegedly from the neighboring state “sneaked” into the headquarters of the County –killing, among other, a man and his wife.
According to Bahr Juok, the attackers avoided areas in which the organized forces have been deployed to deter such attacks.
“They came at 4am and found people sleeping, they entered from the north near the hospital, where the military, and the National security officers are not deployed. They got a man sleeping with his wife, and another woman nearby, and they killed them on the spot,” Bahr Juok said.
Others were wounded in the incident -including an infant.
“They also shot and wounded two children of the late. One of the wounded child is one month old. The security situation now is calm because since they did this they went ran back, and the security forces are pursuing them.”
This is not the first such attack in Kwajina County.
Since March, about 20 people, including women and children have reportedly been killed in a series of attacks on the area.
Last month, Tonj state governor instructed the Minister of Local Government to meet with his counterpart from Wau to address recurrent incidents of violence between cattle keepers and farmers.
He also issued an order directing all cattle keepers to return to Tonj to avoid more conflicts.
On SPLA Day, the governor of Wau State said the two states should revisit the 2016 Marial-Bai cattle migration agreement in which; no pastoralist is allowed to carry a gun into Wau during the migration season.
It states that nobody will be allowed to bring his cattle to Wau without a letter of permission from their chiefs.
The agreement obligates the governments of Wau, Gogrial and Tonj to continue to regulate the relationship between pastoralists and farmers.