Army Blames NAS Rebels for Road Ambush, Says Rescued 6 Abductees

The army has blamed the National Salvation Front rebels, a dissident group active in the Equatoria region for a road ambush on the Juba-Nimule highway on Tuesday morning.

By Simon Deng

The army has blamed the National Salvation Front rebels, a dissident group active in the Equatoria region for a road ambush on the Juba-Nimule highway on Tuesday morning.

Speaking to reporters in Juba yesterday, the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces Spokesperson, Maj.Gen Lul Ruai Koang said 7 people abducted after the ambush on a bus bound to Uganda were rescued by the army, after being subjected to brutal treatment and looting of their valuables including phones, money and passports.

“Out of the 14 that were abducted, 6 were freed by NAS rebel themselves and the seventh one, a wounded Ugandan national was rescued by SSPDF,” Maj.Gen Koang said in a press briefing in Juba yesterday.

Maj.Gen Koang said the freed abductees include one South Sudanese, two Sudanese, three Ugandans and one Rwandese national.

He said other abductees remain at large, citing that the primary responsibility of recovering those who are still in captivity lies with the leadership of the National Salvation Front.

“For some reasons they were targeted, subjected to number of measures, made to walk for 7 hours, some of them beaten, all their valuables were looted  including phones, money and passports,” he said.

In a statement purportedly released by Suba Samuel, the spokesperson for the National Salvation Front, the government claims were false.

Oba Margret, a mother of four kids who had her children schooling in Uganda said she was traveling to see her children in Uganda when they were attacked.

Many people were wounded as they fired into the bus, she said.

“They told us to lie down. We surrendered our bags to them, they took us to the bush, we followed them, we follow their orders, we walk until we reach their base,” said Margret.

“We were briefed by their commander who said, we do not have issues with civilians, we are fighting the government,” she said.

“Honestly they did not touch us, they did not rape. If you do not follow their instruction they cane you,” she said.

Sabumia Simanga, a Ugandan trader in the busy custom markets said he was traveling to Nairobi through Kampala for a festive season, adding that the Babeto bus leave Juba at 5:45 am before following into ambush at Kubi.

 “They started firing into the bus from both sides, the security guard was injured, they say, they are going to burn the bus, we come out, they took our phones, money and passports, we were moving in line like 20 but we remain 12 when we reach their base,” Simanga said.

The Babeto bus services traveling to Uganda fell into the road ambush in Kubi along Juba-Nimule road leading to the death of one person and 8 injuries including a personnel from the National Security Services.

According to Bebeto Coach Services,13 passengers and two minors have been evacuated to Kampala, adding the road ambush on the bus which carried 40 passengers and 3 staff left a south Sudanese national dead.

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