Kidnap fears follow deadly South Sudan bus attack

A long-distance bus has come under attack by gunmen in South Sudan on a main road south of the capital, Juba, leaving at least one person dead and several others feared kidnapped, the army has said.

The passenger vehicle, heading for the Ugandan capital, Kampala, was targeted on Tuesday morning.

Images from the scene show flames engulfing the inside of the bus and black smoke rising up into the sky.

Despite a peace deal being in place to end years of civil war in South Sudan, insecurity remains rife in many parts of the country.

Army spokesperson Maj Gen Lul Ruai Koang told the BBC that one person, a Ugandan man, had been killed and eight wounded. He added that seven others were missing and it is thought they may have been abducted.

Gen Koang accused a rebel group, the National Salvation Front (NAS), of being behind the attack 80km (50 miles) from the capital.

The group, led by former deputy chief of staff Gen Thomas Cirilo Swaka, operates in areas south of Juba, as well as other parts of Central Equatoria state.

NAS, which refused to sign the 2018 peace accord, has not commented on the bus attack.

Earlier, the army spokesperson told Radio Tamazuj that the soldiers who were sent to the scene had fought off the attackers.

There have been other violent incidents on the road linking Juba with the southern border town of Nimule.

In August 2022, 11 passengers – South Sudanese and Ugandans – were killed and several others wounded when their vehicle was ambushed by unidentified armed men.

And a year earlier, two South Sudanese Catholic nuns were killed along the same highway as they were travelling back to Juba.