The death toll from a coordinated attack in Warrap State has risen to 72, with 38 people wounded, the state government said on Monday.
The attack targeted Akop Payam in Tonj North County, with the government blaming armed groups from Mayom County in neighbouring Unity State and sections of Alabek Payam.
The dead included two women, according to the Warrap State Caretaker Minister of Information. Fifty of those killed were from the attackers’ side, while 22 were from the victims’ side, Caretaker Information Minister William Wol Mayom told Radio Tamazuj.
The state minister said that an unspecified number of cattle had been raided from Majak-kou cattle camp. The two main markets of Athieng-puol and Rual-malith, along with several households in villages across Akop Payam, were deliberately burned, he added.
Unity State officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The state minister expressed concern over what it described as a growing pattern of retaliatory attacks involving armed groups from Mayom County and communities in Alabek and Akop payams. It singled out the Pan-Arik and Pan-Mawien sub-clans, saying the violence had also affected other sections of Alabek and Majak payams.
He linked the latest attack to a cycle of revenge killings, citing a targeted attack on October 24 in Mading-Juer that killed eight civilians, including a girl.
Warrap State Governor Angelo Ngot Mayar and the state government extended condolences to the bereaved families and wished those injured a speedy recovery.
Security response
Minister Mayom said the government had instructed security agencies to deploy forces swiftly to Akop Payam and transfer the wounded for medical treatment.
He added that the governments of Warrap and Unity states were establishing communication channels to recover the stolen cattle, identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
The state minister also appealed to humanitarian partners and other well-wishers to assist people affected by the attack, saying vulnerable women, children and older people had been left without food, medicine and shelter.
People living elsewhere who have relatives in the affected areas have expressed growing concern for their loved ones’ safety amid the escalating violence.
“I have called my family to check whether they are safe amid this conflict. I am very concerned about what is happening in my home area,” a young man living in Kuajok who has relatives in Tonj North told Radio Tamazuj.
The latest attack comes amid recurring intercommunal violence in Warrap State, where clashes, cattle raids and retaliatory killings have caused repeated casualties in recent months.
and then