At least 57 people including a chief and his family have been confirmed killed in a suspected Murle youth revenge attack Wednesday night on Uror County in Jonglei State, the Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin has told AFP.
The minister says 11 men were killied in the attack, the remainder being women and children.
Speaking to Radio Miraya on Thursday, the Uror County Commissioner Simon Hoth Dol said two remote villages of Wek and Payok in the county were the targets of the armed attackers.
"On Wednesday at 5pm, the Murle youth came and attacked my area in Uror County. Right now as I speak, my head chief of Wek village Jany Lual and his family have been killed," he bemoaned.
"A lot of people have been butchered because the area is very remote. There is no SPLA, there is no any security actually," the commissioner added.
The commissioner appealed to the UN and the SPLA to provide security all over the county in order to deter any further attacks.
The commissioner of Pibor County Joshua Konyi could not confirm the reports since he is outside the county.
"I am not sure because of I am not in Pibor right now. Citizens fled to the bushes since the last attack in December and they are not yet gathered. I am not sure if they are the Murle or the Lou Nuer," he said.
Jonglei has been engulfed in a series of inter-communal clashes in Twic, Bor, Jalle, Akobo, Uror, Likuangole and Pibor counties since August last year which have left scores dead and tens of thousands displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance.
However, a national security committee to investigate, verify the death toll and damage caused by the inter-tribal killings in the troubled state has been formed according to the government spokesperson Barnaba Marial Benjamin.