Chinese national and soldier killed in attack in South Sudan, says government official
- The pair were ‘attacked, shot and died instantly. The motive of the killing is unknown,’ said information minister Wayi Godwill
- The Chinese national was working on a road which is undergoing major reconstruction by the Shandong Hi-Speed Group Company
A Chinese national and South Sudanese soldier were killed on Wednesday along a major road linking the capital Juba to the town of Rumbek, a regional government official told Agence France-Presse.
The almost 400-kilometre (250-mile) road is undergoing major reconstruction by the Shandong Hi-Speed Group Company at a cost of some US$700 million dollars.
“A Chinese [citizen] … and a soldier belonging to the Tiger battalion have been killed,” along the road, said the information minister for the Central Equatorial state, Wayi Godwill.
The pair were “attacked, shot and died instantly. The motive of the killing is unknown and until now the assailants are at large”, he added.
The murders come a week after South Sudan security officers arrested 12 suspects accused of carrying out a spate of abductions, kidnappings for ransom, torture and killings of civilians – mainly businessmen or women – along major roads in the country.
Insecurity in the country persists even after the signing of a 2018 peace deal to end a brutal five-year civil war that has left some 400,000 dead.