Juba: Clashes in south Sudan have
killed 25 people and wounded several more in the tense
oil-rich Upper Nile, a military spokesman said on Saturday.
Heavily armed fighters attacked an ethnic Dinka
settlement in Bony-Thiang, north of the state capital Malakal,
this morning, said Major General Kuol Diem Kuol, of the
southern Sudan People`s Liberation Army (SPLA).
"They killed 20, including the paramount chief, his two
wives and three children, and wounded many more," said Kuol.
"They have burnt down the village and destroyed all the
huts, and they have stolen very many cattle."
Angry Dinka groups then carried out a retaliatory raid on
the nearby Shilluk village of Bon, killing five including a
woman and two children, Kuol said.
Kuol said the gunmen, who came from the Shilluk ethnic
group, were a militia backed by a splinter from the south`s
ruling Sudan People`s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party, known
as SPLM Democratic Change (SPLM-DC).
The force was led by a former SPLA colonel who worked for
a wildlife unit before deserting his post, Kuol claimed.
Bureau Report
