Armed youth attacked a South Sudanese village, killing 12, injuring 17, and stealing cattle.

A group of unidentified armed assailants launched a deadly attack in South Sudan on Sunday, killing at least 12 individuals and injuring 17 others, according to reports from local media.

William Koji, the Acting Information Minister of Lakes State, informed local news outlet Aweil that the assault took place at approximately 1:00 a.m. on Sunday. He stated, “The attackers came at around 1:00 a.m. on Sunday and indiscriminately started shooting while people were sleeping, which resulted in the killing of these 12 people, among them two girls and two children.”

The perpetrators are suspected to be armed youth from neighbouring counties in Unity State. In addition to the tragic loss of lives, they raided an unspecified number of cattle. However, some of the stolen livestock were recovered with the support of the South Sudanese army, according to Koji.

Koji strongly condemned the attack and urged the Unity State government to take decisive measures to curb the ongoing issue of cattle raiding and violence against innocent civilians.

“This is very serious, and I'm asking our counterparts from Unity State to deal with these criminals because we couldn't cross from Lakes State to Unity State to apprehend them,” Koji emphasized.