More than a dozen civilians, including women and children, were killed in South Sudan after fighters deceived them with promises of humanitarian aid registration. Survivors say government-allied militia members gathered villagers in a traditional hut before opening fire on Saturday morning.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Survivors of a deadly attack in South Sudan report that over a dozen civilians lost their lives after being deceived by government-allied fighters who falsely promised food aid registration.
The tragic incident occurred Saturday morning in Pankor village, located in Ayod County within conflict-torn Jonglei State, approximately 250 miles north of Juba, the nation’s capital. The victims included women and children.
Two survivors, who requested anonymity fearing reprisals, described how dozens of armed fighters arrived in pickup trucks and used loudspeakers to announce they were there to register villagers for food assistance.
“They gathered them in a luak,” one witness explained, describing a traditional mud structure typically used for cattle. “People were thinking they would get aid or some help.”
The fighters then restrained several men’s hands and began shooting at the assembled group. While the two survivors reported 22 deaths and multiple injuries, the government-appointed county commissioner stated 16 people died. The Associated Press could not independently confirm either count.
Graphic photographs obtained by the AP from an opposition representative showed bodies of women and young men, some with bound hands, appearing to have been shot at close range.
Makuach Muot, 34, made the journey to Pankor on Sunday to attend funeral services for eight family members. He explained that most village residents had evacuated due to earlier fighting, leaving primarily elderly residents and young children behind.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang was unavailable for comment.
James Chuol Jiek, Ayod’s government-appointed county commissioner, verified that more than a dozen people, primarily women and children, died in the assault.
According to Jiek, the attackers were members of the Agwelek militia, composed of fighters from the Shilluk ethnic community who remain outside full national army integration despite participating extensively in recent military campaigns.
Jiek reported that the fighters departed their base overnight without their commander’s authorization. He said they claimed the killings were retaliation for a 2022 Nuer militia assault on Shilluk communities that resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths and abductions.
The county commissioner denounced the killings and announced that multiple officers had been detained while the army confiscated weapons from 150 fighters in the involved battalion. He rejected claims that civilians were deceived with aid registration promises, calling this “an opposition lie.”
In January, Agwelek militia leader Lt. Gen. Johnson Olony was recorded instructing his troops to target civilians during Jonglei state operations. “Spare no lives,” he commanded. “When we arrive there, don’t spare an elderly, don’t spare a chicken, don’t spare a house or anything.”
His statements prompted widespread condemnation from the United Nations and other organizations. Olony has since issued an apology.
Ongoing armed conflicts, aerial strikes, and prolonged severe flooding have created severe food insecurity for more than half of Ayod County’s population.
Ayod County sits in northern Jonglei state, an opposition stronghold and center of renewed violence that the U.N. estimates has displaced 280,000 people since December. Humanitarian organizations have cautioned that restricted access to opposition-controlled areas threatens civilian safety.
Northern Jonglei residents are predominantly from the Nuer ethnic community of suspended vice president and opposition figure Riek Machar.
Opposition leaders have consistently characterized government actions in Nuer territories as “genocidal.” Reath Tang Muoch, a senior SPLM-IO official, described Olony’s recorded statements as “an early indicator of genocidal intent.”