BSS
  07 Feb 2024, 09:58

18 killed in S.Sudan attack over land rights

  JUBA, Feb 7, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Armed attackers from a neighbouring state
killed or burned to death 18 people, including eight soldiers, in South
Sudan's Western Bahr el Gazal state, the state's interim governor said
Tuesday.

Arkenjelo Anyar Anyar said armed youths from the neighbouring Warrap state
torched a local market, houses and a police station in Tharkueng Payam
following a dispute over land rights.

He said the 10 dead civilians included "children, women, elderly, they were
burned because they couldn't escape", adding that around 2,000 people were
displaced or homeless.

Thirty-nine people were killed and dozens of others were wounded last
Wednesday when violence broke out between rival groups of cattle herders in
South Sudan's Warrap and Lake states.

One of the poorest countries on the planet despite large oil reserves, South
Sudan has spent almost half of its life as a nation at war, and has also
endured persistent natural disasters, hunger, economic meltdown and communal
conflict.