Eleven Sudanese traders were shot dead in an ambush by armed gangsters as they crossed into neighbouring South Sudan, a South Sudan military official has said.
"There were three lorries and they fell into an ambush. Two were driven to the bush, as one, which had technical problems, was left behind. They went and killed all 11 drivers", South Sudan's military spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP yesterday.
The killed traders were crossing the border at Khorachier, a trading centre some 30 kilometres from Renk town in South Sudan's Upper Nile state on Wednesday.
The incident only came to light after another set of truck drivers noticed the abandoned lorry and alerted the army which, according to Aguer, dispatched a team to look for the missing traders.
"They saw this group of armed gangsters who immediately started shooting at the army... The SPLA exchanged fire with them and they started running to the north," Aguer added, calling the attack "barbaric."
The Wednesday morning attack is largely thought to be the first of its kind to happen to traders.
South Sudan split from Sudan in 2011 following decades of civil war. After a tumultuous first 18 months of nationhood that almost brought it back to war with its northern neighbour and led to the closure of a largely undemarcated border, a recent series of deals on oil and territory have eased tensions.
Last month, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir made a historic visit to the Southern capital Juba and declared the border open.
A presidential pardon today from his Southern counterpart Salva Kiir to rebel groups coincided with the surrender of some 3,000 rebels, according to the military, amid hopes that the warming of relations with Khartoum could finally bring peace to a war-weary new nation.
Aguer said other groups still waging war on the South were thought to be behind the ambush.
"I think this might be part of the militia forces that are operating from north Sudan who wanted to spoil the peace between the two countries," he said.
