TONJ EAST – At least 26 people have been reported dead and 30 others injured in communal fighting in South Sudan’s Warrap State after a road ambush triggered retaliatory attacks, the county commissioner said.

Caretaker commissioner Machuei Biith Bol said the violence occurred on Tuesday at Madeer village, where armed men believed to be from the Akook section ambushed members of the Thiik section, triggering retaliatory attacks between the two groups.

“The attack at a road ambush by a group believed to be from Akook against Thiik sections at Madeer village, the initial deaths involved a young man and woman, which led to the armed youth fighting among themselves, which led to over 20 people dead and other 30 injured,” Biith said.

He said he had informed the Warrap State governor, who pledged to coordinate with senior military officials to deploy forces to the area.

“I communicated immediately with my boss yesterday and he had pledged to coordinate with the highest authorities of the military to find a way of sending the military forces to the scene where it had been rowdy and messy, and that is what we are hoping for to bring normalcy back,” Biith said.

The latest violence adds to recurring communal clashes across Greater Tonj, an area of Warrap State comprising Tonj East, Tonj North and Tonj South counties.