Three people killed in Rumbek ambush
The attack, in which several were injured, occurred on 24 May in Rumbek Central County. A man with two broken legs and an injured child were admitted to Rumbek hospital.
A reporter who visited the scene in Aber Payam, 15km from Rumbek town, saw three bodies inside the car.
The vehicle had GoSS number plates, an indicator that the car belongs to the Government of Southern Sudan. The dead included two elderly women and a young man, the car\'s driver, who was believed to be member of the fire brigade in Lakes State.
John Buong Maker, a police officer who managed to escape from the attack with three others, said the gunmen were not soldiers, but civilian cattle owners.
\"Among those who sustained wounds are two women and one small child.\"
\"Those who attacked us were six gunmen in civilian clothes,\" Buong said. \"They are cattle keepers of Rumbek Central County. Among those who sustained wounds are two women and one small child, but their condition will improve,\" he added.
According to Buong, six people ran alongside the car as it was traveling the road. \"They came nearer to the roadside and they started shooting at us,\" he said. \"They killed three people, two women who died immediately inside car. The driver was also shot dead on the spot.\"
Mabor Meen Wuol, Lakes State Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement, described the ambush as \"naive thinking to attack a car belonging to the government.\"
\"We will not tolerate this illegal act of killing people traveling on public transport and government vehicles. We will bring them to book,\" he said.
Meen added that his ministry has sent the police force and Sudan People\'s Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers to patrol the road from Rumbek to Cueibet and clear the route for public use.
A lack of security due to cattle raiding and bandits, as well as active rebel militias in the region, is one of the major challenges to the future South Sudan, which becomes formally independent on 9 July.
