Three clerics are among the 12 suspects arrested in connection with the Monday shooting of bishop-elect of South Sudan Rumbek Diocese.
According to Association of Catholic Information in Africa (ACIA), the clerics are some of the people suspected to have masterminded the shooting that left Fr Christian Carlassare motionless.
Carlassare was on Tuesday stretchered and airlifted to Nairobi for further treatment through the facilitation of African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF). Before being flown, he received treatment from the Doctors with Africa CUAMM.
Two armed men stormed the residence of the bishop in Rumbek and shot him on both legs after shattering the doors by spraying bullets.
ACIA reported on Tuesday morning that security officers probing the criminal activity seized cell phones belonging to some of the suspected clerics at the scene of crime leading to their arrest.
“When the two men shot the Bishop-elect, one of them dropped down his phone and the Bishop fell on it. It is this phone that the security used to find the people connected,” ACIA quotes their source.
President Salva Kiir on Monday evening called for speedy investigation of the incident, terming the shooting of the cleric a disgrace. He added the assailants would not distract the people of Rumbek from working with Fr Carlassare.
“The reprehensible act of violence meted on him is unacceptable and it must stop. I call upon all South Sudanese to condemn the criminals who carried out this heinous crime in the strongest terms possible,” the president noted.