At least 10 killed in rebel attack in South Sudan county

July 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least ten people have died, including a local commissioner, after the attack on Friday by dissidents from the South Sudanese Army in Mayom, a city in the state of Unity, in the north of the country, according to local sources.

Along with nine others, Mayom County Commissioner James Chuol Gatluak was burned to death during fighting at the county seat in Mayom city with a group of gunmen loyal to a former senior Sudanese Army official. South, Stephen Buay Rolnyang, has reported ‘Sudans Post’.

In statements to the aforementioned media outlet, a high-ranking official of the country’s government has confirmed that the fighting in Mayom led to the assassination of the commissioner, although for now no further details are known about how the violence began or what led to the death of Chuol Gatluak.

In a statement, the president and commander-in-chief of the South Sudan People’s Movement (SSPM/A) and former commander of the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF), Stephen Buay Rolnyang, has claimed responsibility for the attack. .

Likewise, he has detailed that his forces captured Mayom during the first hours of Friday in “retaliation” mode, after an alleged attack on his positions by the commissioner in which they would have killed one of his soldiers, according to the Eye Radio station. .

Last year, General Buay Rolnyang was dismissed from the South Sudanese Army after being accused of treason. He then created a new rebel group, the South Sudan People’s Army, and vowed to overthrow the country’s government, according to the BBC.

Chuol Gatluak, for his part, was the older brother of presidential security adviser Tutkew Gatluak, and was appointed to the post in 2021 when President Salva Kiir reconstituted the Unity State Government as part of the revitalized peace agreement, according to ‘Sudans Post’.