The Abyei Special Administrative Area minister of information has said that armed youth suspected to be from Warrap State’s Twic County attacked Nyinkuec market in Abyei and killed 10 civilians and wounded 14 people over the weekend.

One of the aggressors is suspected to have died during the attack.

Information Minister Bol Koc told Radio Tamazuj Sunday that the assailants attacked Nyinkuec at 7 p.m. on 30 September one week after a similar attack on Athony village.

"The attackers, armed youths from Warrap State, attacked Nyinkuec market on Saturday and 10 civilians were killed including a 4-year-old child and two women,” he said. “14 others were wounded and taken to the MSF Hospital for treatment.”

According to Koc, the incident happened one week after suspected youth from Ajakuach Payam of Twic County in Warrap State, backed by armed Nuer youth from Unity State, attacked Athony village. He said no one was killed or injured in that attack.

“When we were collecting dead bodies, every person identified his or her dead relative, and one body was not identified so it might be one of the attackers,” Koc said. “These armed men came from Ajakuach and they were backed by armed youth belonging to Gai Machek and Gen. Stephen Buay  because they camped in Ajakuach with their forces.”

The minister further accused armed Twic youth of several attacks.

"Four armed youths from Twic County in Warrap State came on 27 September and stole 6 cows from a family in Manyiel Rou village and when the owner woke up, they shot him dead,” Koc said. “On the same day, they also killed a driver who worked for the agriculture ministry in Buok Chok village.”

He said the security situation has normalized after the attacks but that the youth in Abyei are not happy and want to retaliate.

Minister Koc the local government is working to cool tempers and discourage retaliatory attacks but blamed social media users for inciting the conflict. He cited one Mayar Chier, a youth from Twic County domiciled in America for encouraging Twic youth to attack Abyei three days before the attack.

He blamed the United Nations Interim Security Forces in Abyei (UNISFA) for not adequately protecting civilians, saying that they came after the incident and only made reports.

Meanwhile, Simon Aguek, the Twic County commissioner, denied that armed youth from his area were responsible for the attack in Abyei.

“I was posted to this office on 29 September and I held a security meeting and there was no report about the youth attacking Abyei. Even today (Sunday) people are still celebrating my appointment and I talked to the Ajakuach Payam authorities and all security organs operating in Twic but there was nothing like an attack in Athony and Abyei reported.”