{"id":117675,"date":"2026-03-03T14:29:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117675"},"modified":"2026-03-03T14:29:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:29:55","slug":"death-toll-in-surprise-attack-in-south-sudan-rises-to-178-local-official-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117675","title":{"rendered":"Death toll in \u2018surprise\u2019 attack in South Sudan rises to 178, local official says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>3 Minute, 40 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
\n

The number of people killed in an attack in South Sudan on Sunday, when a group of unidentified men launched an assault in the north of the country, has risen to 178, a local official has told the BBC.<\/p>\n

Describing the attack as carried out by dozens of armed youths, Ruweng Administrative Area\u2019s Information Minister James Monyluak Mijok alleged that they came from neighbouring Unity state and were linked to the Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO).<\/p>\n

The SPLA-IO has denied any involvement in the attack, accusing the authorities of politicising the violence.<\/p>\n

The UN has repeatedly warned that the country is at risk of sliding back into full-scale civil war.<\/p>\n

Medical aid groups have described the scale of casualties as alarming, even for a region that has experienced repeated outbreaks of violence.<\/p>\n

A diplomatic source quoted anonymously by the AFP news agency on Monday put the death toll at 70 but said it could increase.<\/p>\n

\u201dThe dead include 90 children, women and elderly people, as well as 79 members of regional forces, including police,\u201d Mijok said,\u00a0<\/strong>adding that many of them had been buried in a mass grave.<\/p>\n

He said 73 people were still in hospital \u2013 many of whom were taken to neighbouring Abyei Administrative Area for treatment.<\/p>\n

Medical charity M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF) described the situation in Abyei as extremely challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really difficult to manage the mass casualty situation, but many MSF and Ministry of Health staff came on their day off and from other facilities to support,\u201d Abraham Deng Lual Wek, an MSF nurse supervisor, told the BBC on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the surgical team, it was a challenge to manage all of the emergency cases between the two operating theatres,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur triage area, emergency room and wards were full of patients, so we expanded capacity by using tents and a meeting space, which also filled quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mijok told the BBC that the attackers entered Abiemnom county in Ruweng before dawn on Sunday, at around 04:30 local time (02:30 GMT), when people were still sleeping and \u201csurprised them\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the government forces on the ground \u201cwere outnumbered\u2026 The assailants set fire to homes and markets during fighting that lasted between three and four hours.\u201d Several senior local officials were killed including the county commissioner and executive director.<\/p>\n

Mijok said government forces had since driven the attackers out and that authorities were now in full control.<\/p>\n

He also alleged that officials in Unity state \u201cmust have had knowledge\u201d of the plan to target Ruweng. The Unity state authorities have not responded to this accusation. It is not clear what may have triggered the attack.<\/p>\n

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) said about 1,000 civilians began seeking protection near its base in the affected area. The mission said it was alarmed by the surge in violence in the region over the past 48 hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch violence places civilians at grave risk and must stop immediately,\u201d said Anita Kiki Gbeho, officer in charge of Unmiss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mission has enhanced its protective posture and is working with the government of South Sudan to support urgent efforts to restore calm and safeguard affected communities,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Peacekeepers are providing emergency medical care to at least 23 people wounded in the clashes. The mission has called on all parties to cease hostilities immediately and engage in dialogue.<\/p>\n

A similar incident in Abiemnom county last year left more than 42 civilians dead.<\/p>\n

Following clashes in another part of the country \u2013 Jonglei sate \u2013 MSF said 26 of its staff were missing after weeks of escalating violence between government and opposition forces.<\/p>\n

The charity has now suspended medical services in two parts of the state \u2013 Lankien and Pieri.<\/p>\n

Its facility in Lankien was hit by a government air strike on 3 February, it added.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our staff were forced to flee the violence alongside their families. Several are now displaced, sheltering in remote areas with little access to food, water or basic services,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

South Sudan, the world\u2019s youngest country, has been beset by civil war, poverty and corruption since it was formed in 2011.<\/p>\n

The UN has warned that an \u201call-out civil war\u201d could return as a power-sharing deal struck in 2018 between President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, Riek Machar, has unravelled over the past year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The number of people killed in an attack in South Sudan on Sunday when a group of unidentified men launched an assault in the north of the country has risen to 178, a local official has told the BBC.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16005,2047,1910,17799,117,10,9,3193],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death-toll","category-hp-news-9","category-international","category-local-official","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-south-sudan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}