11 Killed And 3 Injured In The Warrap State Attacks in Sudan

The authorities in Warrap State say at least 11 people have been killed and three wounded in fresh attacks on Warrap State’s Twic County. Commissioner Dominic Deng Kuoch said that the Saturday attacks were carried out by the renegade militia group of Peter Gadet.

Armed elements allegedly allied to militia leader, Peter Gadet Yak, carried out a surprise attack in Turalei, an administrative headquarters of Twic County, killing 11 people (confirmed from other sources) and injuring several others on Friday.

The attack comes ahead of the deployment of Ethiopian Forces mandated by the United Nations to the disputed border town of Abyei, which the northern army took from a local administration predominantly controlled by officials loyal to the South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, SPLM.

Colonel Phillip Aguer Panyang, SPLA spokesman accused the SAF of using the militia to stir up violence in the contested borderlines in order to provoke return to war before independence of South Sudan.

"The Sudan Armed Forces are using militia groups to attack areas along the borderlines in order to provoke reaction from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. This is the ploy coined by the government in Khartoum", said Colonel Panyang.

"Our people in the South together with their government under the leadership of our president comrade General Salva Kiir Mayardit, know these facts", adds the senior military officer. Panyang further said he has no clear details of the casualties.

"Our forces in Turalei crushed them properly", he said explaining that was part of a plan by the North to take over oil-rich areas in the South before it gains independence next month. He said the SPLA would not accept any provocation to resume war.

Ariec Mayar Ariec, a member of Warrap State Legislative in Kuajok, capital of the State confirmed the attack to have taken place on Friday and said that 11 people including women were killed. He said some of the attackers have disappeared into the community after scattering during the fighting and reportedly throwing away their guns.

"Some people on the side of our Gelweng (home guards) have been killed. They have killed three policemen and more than eight fighters on the side of the attackers. Eleven lives in total have been lost", he said explaining that some of the fighters have disappeared into community and that they were still being hunted".

Colonel Dominic Deng Kuoc Malek, Twic County Commissioner, confirmed the attack took place.
Turalei hosts tens of thousands of people who had been displaced from their homes in the contested North-South region of Abyei following an invasion by SAF.

The senior member of the South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement said the attack was carried out by armed groups allegedly allied to Gen. Peter Gadet, who defected from the SPLA.

"The attack was actually targeting Turalei. And their intention was to overrun the area so that they make it as base for further attacks on other areas. All of the offensives are actually targeting the coming separation on the 9 July," Deng said.

North and South Sudan ended more than two decades of civil war, in which more than 2 million people died, in 2005 with a peace deal that promised both Abyei and the South self-determination votes.

The south voted overwhelmingly in January to secede and will become an independent nation July 9.

Additional info by Sudan tribune & Radio Miraya FM