Gunmen behead two on Uganda-South Sudan border

Medical workers Moyo Hospital attend to survivers of the attack. PHOTO BY SCOVIN ICEATA.  

MOYO-  Gunmen suspected to be members of Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In-Opposition (SPLA-IO) have beheaded a clinical officer and a boda-boda cyclist on the South Sudan-Uganda border district of Moyo.

Police in Moyo confirmed that the two, a Ugandan and a South Sudan national, were killed while two others sustained serious injuries after being ambushed laid by suspected SPLA-IO rebels.

 According to the police, the incident happened about three kilometres inside Uganda.

“I can confirm to you that one Ugandan (boda-boda) and staff of ARC had their heads cut off. The survivors who sustained injuries were rushed to Moyo Hospital for medical attention but our forces are already on the ground,” Mr Denis Ocircan, the Officer in Charge of Moyo Police Station said.

The border areas stretching from Kaya to Jale areas are under the control of SPLA-IO that is loyal to former South Sudan Vice President, Dr Riek Machar.

Police identified the dead as Julius Taban ,47, a clinical officer working with American Refugees Committees (ARC) providing health services in Internally Displace Peoples camps in Kajo-Keji County, South Sudan and Mr Muhammad Chandiga, 32, a Ugandan boda-boda rider and resident of Afoji village in Moyo Sub-county.

Mr Jackson Pena and Henry Geriga, both South Sudanese refugees at Morobi Zone II Camp in Palorinya Refugee Settlement camp in Moyo District are receiving treatment at Moyo Hospital.

Mr Rahiman Dubu, the brother of the late Chandiga said his brother had gone to pick the clinical officer

“The beheaded bodies were dumped in the bush while the heads were placed on the road. We found the body in the bush about 100 metres from the roadside,” Mr Dudu said.

The SPLA-IO Deputy Spokesperson, Col. Lam Paul Gabriel told Daily Monitor that the SPLA-IO does not attack civilians but protects them from the atrocities done by government forces.

"The incident that happened between Afoji and Jale is an act of cowardice and crime from government forces and their militias to destabilise civilians along the border so that the government of Uganda can blame the SPLA-IO ," Col Lam said.

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