Six People Killed In Unity State By Bandits

18 November 2010 – (Juba) – Six people were killed and five others wounded in Unity state when they were attacked by bandits on Tuesday.

Five of those killed were officials from the state ministry of education. They were transporting teachers’ salaries to the counties.

The Unity state minister for information Gideon Gatpan Thoar spoke to SRS on Wednesday.

[Gideon Gatpan]: “The bus went and dropped the salaries for teachers for Koch and on its way going to Mayiandit to proceed to Leer and Payinjiar, it met with a group of bandits which were said to be three of them. They fired on the bus and killed six people on the spot. The majority are teachers and accountants. They actually killed five people and wounded six people and then they took the money for these three counties; Leer, Mayiandit and Payinjiar and they ran to the bushes. After that, we brought the bodies and the people wounded [to Bentiu]. They have not been found. They ran into the bushes of Koch county.”

However, Gatpan said that the case should be treated as a criminal case and refuted claims that the attackers were supporters of renegade General Gatluak Gai who defected from the SPLA and is believed to be terrorizing citizens in the state.

[Gideon Gatpan]: “We don’t consider this as Gatluak Gai. In every country, sometimes they have bandits who can find themselves doing it but later when they face the law, they may be able to stop. The government has just increased the patrolling system especially the police to make sure they contain the situation and stop these gangs from disturbing the general public transport.”

Gideon Gatpan said that the incident has not interrupted the transport system in the state and that the referendum registration process is ongoing.