FILE: Main bridge leading to Akoka in 2017. Credit|UNMISS

South Sudan People Defense Force, SSPDF, has sent a military team to investigate the recent killing of more than 10 people in Akoka County of Upper Nile state.

On Wednesday, at least 11 people, including a top-ranking army officer, were killed following an attack by an armed group in the area.

The army said many other people were also wounded during the incident.

According to the army deputy spokesperson of the SSPD, Brigadier Santo Domic, the attack was allegedly carried out by the armed civilian group known as the white army from neighboring Nasir.

“We don’t know the exact motive of the attack is not known whether it is a revenge attack against those who raided their cattle, or whether it has a political or military motive –this what we want to know,” he told journalists at the army headquarter in Juba on Saturday.

Domic also revealed that security remains tense following the attack and the displacement of people.

“Some people lost their crops, some crops got burn, some lost their sheep and cattle, and others lost their loved ones, so there’s fear and tension in the area.”