South Sudanese fighters lure civilians with aid promise, kill over a dozen at a village in Jonglei State. The government-allied fighters tricked them from their homes with the promise of humanitarian food aid.
Survivors recount how South Sudanese fighters used food to lure villagers
According to Associated Press, the brutal attack occurred in the village of Pankor, Ayod County. Women and children are among the dead.
Two survivors, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, recounted the incident. They revealed how several dozen fighters used a loudspeaker to announce a food registration drive.
“They gathered them in a luak. People were thinking they would get aid or some help,” one witness said, referring to a traditional cattle-keeping hut.
According to the witnesses, the armed men then bound the hands of several male villagers and opened fire on the assembled crowd. The survivors reported that 22 people were killed and several others were wounded.
The government-appointed county commissioner, however, put the death toll at 16. The Associated Press has been unable to verify the conflicting figures independently.
Additionally, graphic photographs obtained by the AP show the bodies of women and young men. Some with their hands tied behind their backs, appearing to have been executed at close range.
County commissioner confirms death toll
The attack has devastated families, according to Makuach Muot, 34, who travelled to Pankor to bury eight of his relatives.
He told AP that most of the village’s residents had fled fighting months earlier. They also left behind a vulnerable population of mostly elderly people and young children.
Meanwhile, James Chuol Jiek, the government-appointed county commissioner of Ayod, confirmed the death of over a dozen people. He said they are predominantly women and children.
Commissioner Jiek identified the perpetrators as members of the Agwelek militia, a force drawn from the Shilluk ethnic group. While the group has not been fully integrated into the national army, it has been deeply involved in recent military operations.
Jiek claimed the fighters had left their barracks overnight without their commander’s knowledge. He stated that the fighters told him the massacre was an act of revenge for attacks carried out by a Nuer militia on Shilluk villages in 2022.
The county commissioner condemned the killings, stating that several officers have been arrested, disarming 150 fighters from the implicated battalion. He vehemently denied that the victims were lured out by the promise of aid, dismissing the survivor accounts as an opposition lie.
In a recent development, the World Food Programme (WFP) halts operations, warning that ongoing clashes across five counties in Jonglei State have cut off vital aid deliveries, leaving more than 600,000 people facing severe hunger.
Similarly, the WFP suspended activities in Baliet County, South Sudan, after an attack and looting. The convoy was transporting over 1,500 metric tons of food and 100 cubic meters of non-food items.