South Sudan army bombs Mayom County, locals say six killed

JUBA – South Sudan’s army bombed a remote area of Mayom County in Unity State on Tuesday, killing at least six people and wounding about 12 others, local sources told Sudans Post.

The attack by the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) hit a cattle camp in Tong village, Kueryiek Payam, according to camp leader Kai Mut. He told Sudans Post that the wounded were receiving traditional care due to the distance to medical facilities and poor road access.

“This place is very far from the nearest town with a hospital or a health facility and does not have any road leading to the towns where there are hospitals. As a result, the people who have been wounded are receiving traditional care here and the dead have been buried,” Mut said.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang declined to comment when contacted by Sudans Post, saying he was “not ready to make any comment regarding all the reported bombings.”

In a brief subsequent statement on his Facebook page, Lul reiterated that the army would not comment on these incidents, but referring to them as “strategic.”

“This brief statement serves to inform all media agencies that, as of now, SSPDF command, has no comments to make on reported strategic bombing raids in Fangak and Mayom Counties of Jonglei and Unity States, respectively,” he said.

Local sources told Sudans Post the airstrike on Tong village may have been in response to cattle raids in neighboring Warrap State earlier on Tuesday, which reportedly resulted in at least fourteen deaths and twenty-two injuries in villages including Jokbir, Lieng, Riang Mabior, Ajakdit, and Wathok Mayinrol.

Some Tong village residents told Sudans Post they suspected the army mistakenly believed the cattle raiders were from their community, a claim they denied.

Mayom County Commissioner General James Liyliy Kuol told Sudans Post he was unaware of the bombing due to the area’s remoteness and poor communication networks.

“I have heard about the incident, but I cannot confirm it because the place where it is said to have happened is very remote and you know the network problems, even now I cannot hear you well. So, I will have to first confirm from the affected people,” he said.

Major Kerbino Yai Pazale, a spokesman for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition’s (SPLA-IO) sector two in Unity State, said their forces had no presence in the bombed villages in Mayom County.

The bombing in Mayom follows similar military actions in other parts of the Greater Upper Nile region, including Nasir, Ulang, and Old Fangak town, where an MSF hospital was destroyed last week.

This escalation occurs against a backdrop of a complex internal conflict and the March 26, 2025, detention of First Vice President Riek Machar, who also leads the main armed opposition SPLM-IO.