Eye Radio's former reporter, Joakino Francis [in white shirt] was driving the Rosa bus that came under attack on Monday morning where two Catholic nuns were killed in his vehicle -credit | Eastern Equatoria State Press Unit | August 16, 2021

The National Police Service says the three individuals arrested along the Juba-Nimule Road following Monday’s killing were charcoal makers.

Armed men killed two reverend sisters of the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba and two other male passengers.

The ambush on the two commercial vehicles happened in Kubi area, as the passengers were returning to Juba from the centenary celebrations that concluded at Our Lady of Assumption Parish in Loa.

A few minutes after the killing, joint security forces rounded up three young men suspected to be behind the killing.

They were led to the nearby bushes to reportedly locate the whereabouts of other criminals.

In a statement to Eye Radio on Tuesday, the spokesperson of the national police service said those arrested are not the prime suspects.

Major General Daniel Justin said the three charcoal makers were found in the vicinity after the attack.

“We caught three people who were for charcoal in the nearby bush, so we arrested them – although not really an arrest, and brought them for investigation because they are not armed, they are just people doing charcoal business.

“We brought them to get more information about the surrounding area, but they are not involved because they are civilians, they don’t have arms.”

The Catholic Archdiocese of Juba has announced five days of mourning of the two reverend sisters.

During this period, the Catholic Secretariat, and its institutions such as schools will remain close until this Friday.