The minister of information in Abyei Special Administrative Area on Sunday said that armed youth from Warap State’s Twic County attacked the police and youth in different locations in Abyei on Saturday.

Bulis Koch told Radio Tamazuj Sunday that the group of armed youth from Twic County were backed up by Nuer youth allied to the controversial Nuer spiritual leader Gai Mchiek, who is domiciled in Twic, sneaked to Nuer camp in Abyei and started fighting Abyei police and Abyei Titbaai armed youth resulting in the killing of 17 people, including civilians in Abyei town.

The report said 35 people who were wounded during the fighting on Saturday at noon were admitted to hospital.

The minister said the Abyei area administration declared a curfew from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to allow security forces to restore security in Abyei town and areas in the Abyei box.

Abyei Information Minster and spokesperson Bulis Koch said the simultaneous attacks happened in four places.

“The attack in Abyei was instigated by armed youth belonging to Gai Machiek who is in Twic County. They attacked Abyei town at noon on Saturday and 17 people were killed and 35 others were wounded in the fight that lasted one hour,” he said. “At 1 p.m., the armed youth from Twic backed by Gai Machiek, attacked Kadhiang village, and 14 people were killed and 4 people were wounded. The attack on Machbuong village happened at 1:20 p.m. and it claimed 5 people but nobody was wounded.”

Minister Koch added:  “Another clash occurred at 1:30 p.m. at Juol-Jook village and that incident claimed one life and two people were wounded while in the attack on Kol-wang-nyang village, 13 people, including SSPDF soldiers and civilians were ambushed and killed in Rumamer County.

He said the incident of Abyei happened at noon on Saturday when three armed Nuer men were seen sneaking into the camp with guns and when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) searched them, they got one with a gun in the nearby bush. The suspect then ran to the Nuer camp and when pursued by the security forces, other armed youth in the Nuer camp came out and started shooting at the police and civilians randomly.

For his part, Twic County Commissioner Simon Aguek Chan denied that armed youth from his jurisdiction attacked locations in Abyei.

“The security situation this (Sunday) morning is fine apart from an incident on Saturday which I reported to you about two drivers who were killed at Akechnhial village by armed youth from Abyei. What I heard is that fighting happened in Abyei between local armed youth and armed Nuer youth but there is nothing like Gai Machiek’s forces attacking Abyei,” he explained. “You can ask the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and officials in Abyei to tell you where the Nuer people are staying in Abyei. Ask them where the attackers came from because UNISFA dispersed the armed Nuer youth into the bushes. Some of them even fled to Muglad in Sudan.”

“The officials in Abyei are denying the fact that these are armed Nuer men that they are hosting in Abyei, Juol-Jook, Kadhiang, Rumamer, and Machbuong,” Commissioner Aguek added.

He said that he talked to the chiefs and youth about the implementation of President Salva Kiir’s orders and that there was no reason to blame Gai Machiek’s forces for attacking Abyei.

Aguek acknowledged the directive by Kiir that Gai Machiek and armed Nuer living in Abyei and Twic County return to their original places.