Injured South Sudanese killed in ambulance attack

South Sudan

South Sudan

from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) AN unspecified number of civilians injured during communal violence in South Sudan have been killed after militants attacked an ambulance carrying them to hospital.

Some health workers survived the recent incident that occurred northwest of the country where two opposing groups have been fighting.

The now-deceased civilians had been driven in an International Rescue Committee (IRC) ambulance.

“Aid workers and humanitarian services should never be a target more so an ambulance carrying patients,” said Martin Omukuba, South Sudan Director at the IRC.

“There is nothing more horrific than attacking an aid vehicle that is attempting to rush injured civilians to a hospital to save their lives,” he added.

According to IRC, South Sudan remains one of the most dangerous places for aid workers with a total of 115 been killed in the country since the outbreak of violence in December 2013.

South Sudan, the world’s newest country, plunged into a civil war two years after independence from Sudan.

The civil war was a result of a fallout between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his deputy, Rieck Machar.

Mayardit accused his deputy of planning a coup.

The South Sudanese people have since endured years of violence, poverty and disease outbreaks.

Floods are the latest crisis to batter the country of more than 12,5 million people.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said insecurity due to armed robbery, ambush and violence against humanitarian personnel was negatively affecting humanitarian to affected populations.

– CAJ News

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