Juba: At least 122 people have been killed in a brutal attack in South Sudan’s Ruweng Administrative Area, regional officials said, in one of the deadliest incidents reported in recent months.
The violence took place on Sunday in Abiemnom County, an oil producing region in the north of the country. Authorities said 82 of those killed were civilians, including women, children and elderly people. The county commissioner and the executive director were also among the victims.
Officials said the attackers were heavily armed men, but their identity and motive remain unclear. Some reports suggest the death toll could be higher, while hundreds of residents fled their homes seeking safety. Around 1,000 people reportedly took refuge near a United Nations protection site.
The attack comes at a time of rising instability across South Sudan. The United Nations has warned that the country is facing a dangerous increase in civilian killings and violence.
Tensions linked to political rivalries, armed groups and competition over resources continue to threaten the fragile peace agreement that ended the country’s civil war.
Ruweng and nearby Unity State are strategically important because of oil production and have long experienced militia activity, ethnic tensions and disputes over land and cattle.
Authorities have not yet announced arrests or confirmed who carried out the attack, and investigations are ongoing.