No
fewer than 55 people have been killed in what appears to be an
ethnically based attack and cattle raid in South Sudan, local officials
said on Monday. Boma state’s information minister, Achon John Giro, told
newsmen that gunmen believed to have come from eastern Jonglei state
attacked Coschar village in neighbouring Boma state on Sunday. Giro put
the number of attackers at several thousands. He said no fewer than 55
people, mostly women and children, were killed, and thousands of cattle
stolen. According to the official, the attackers are believed to belong
to the Bor Dinka and the victims to the Murle ethnic group.
The
two ethnic groups accuse each other of raiding cattle and abducting
children for domestic labour.
The attackers reportedly wore military
uniforms, but army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang denied that they could be
soldiers. “Rebels fighting the government and militias allied with them
often disguise themselves with army uniforms,’’ Koang said. Tens of
thousands had been killed in South Sudan since the split between
President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar escalated into a
military conflict in December 2013. The conflict included ethnically
based massacres committed by both sides. The UN has expressed concern
over the increase in inter-ethnic violence in the country.
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