A senior official in the Abyei area was Sunday shot and killed in an ambush by gunmen along the road in Rummamer County, a local official said.

Bulis Koch, the Abyei minister of information, told Radio Tamazuj this evening that the deputy chief administrator, Mr. Noon Deng, was shot and killed together with four of his bodyguards and the car driver.

"There is an urgent and shocking incident along the road from Abyei to Aneet, especially in Rummamer county. Armed youth from Twic County of Warrap state have ambushed the car of the deputy chief administrator and killed him together with five others at around 6pm," he said.

Bulis is also the official government spokesperson for Abyei.

He added, "His body [deputy chief administrator] has not yet been returned to us because the area is dark and full of grass, so it will be checked on Monday Morning. The deputy chief administrator was on an official mission to celebrate New Year with the Rummamer county commissioner and celebrate with people there."

Radio Tamazuj could not immediately reach the authorities in Twic County to comment on the claims.

Deadly violence is common in the Abyei region, where Twic Dinka from Twic County in Warrap State are locked in a dispute with Ngok Dinka from Abyei over the location of an administrative boundary.

The oil-rich Abyei region is also claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan. The two countries have yet to agree on the border mapping since South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011.

The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) was deployed in June 2011 to protect civilians under the imminent threat of physical violence.

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