Three South Sudanese soldiers were shot dead and a national security officer wounded Thursday when armed assailants attacked their outpost near a road construction site in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area, officials said.
The attackers, dressed in plain clothes and riding motorcycles, opened fire on troops deployed to protect workers building a road linking the region to Jonglei State, according to Nyinginga Okanho Kiro, the area’s information minister.
The minister told Radio Tamazuj on Friday that the assault occurred near Manyabol, close to the Jonglei border village of Anyidi.
“These criminals came on motorbikes and began shooting, killing three soldiers and injuring a security officer,” Kiro said.
He condemned the attack, noting that soldiers had been stationed in the area after previous violence. The assailants fled and were believed to have come from Anyidi in Jonglei’s Bor County, he added.
Officials did not immediately identify a motive or the attackers’ affiliation.
Nyamar Lony Thichiot, the minister of information in Jonglei State, could not be reached for comment.