The area commissioner, Gabriel Magok Bol, said the SSPDF bombed Ganyliel, a SPLA-IO stronghold on Monday, in response to the recent armed youth cattle raid in Lakes State.

By Yien Gattuor

At least seven people were injured by the SSPDF gunship attacks on Tuesday in Panyijiar County of Unity State.

The area commissioner, Gabriel Magok Bol, said the SSPDF bombed Ganyliel, a SPLA-IO stronghold on Monday, in response to the recent armed youth cattle raid in Lakes State.

He said the seven injured individuals have been evacuated to the health centre within Panyijiar for treatment.

“I don’t want to mention the name of the area where the hospital was relocated for security reasons,” Magok said.

 “Also, I want to inform the general public that the several agreements that we agreed on last time with the authorities of Lakes State are now being disowned by the current bombardment,” he decried.

“The agreement was made to resolve the cattle raiding between the two sisters’ communities of Panyijiar in Unity State and the community of Lakes State, but the armed youth from Panyijiar violated the agreement several times.”

This is the latest incident in weeks after another tragic bombardment was reported in Old Fangak, Jonglei State, on May 3, 2025. At least four civilians, including a nine-month old child, were killed and 25 others injured, local media reported.

Fangak County Commssioner, Biel Boutros Biel said two military gunships, a drone and a fixed wing aircraft attacked the town at around 4am. The strikes, he said, targeted centre of Old Fangak town, an area known to have many displaced families, though with no military presence.

A hospital run by medical charity, MSF, the Commissioner said, was also targeted by the aerial bombings.

“For casualties, there were some people wounded within the hospital – the patients and also some wounded outside the hospital, with some deaths,” Biel told The City Review.

“The wounded are 25 – some in critical conditions, but the majority with minor injuries, then the ones confirmed to have died are four, we have two young men and then we have a lady about 15 years and a child, a small boy of nine months,” he added.

The attack happened just days after SSPDF reported that several badges belonging to a UN agency and the a Sudanese businessman were hijacked in Leer County in Unity State and Fangak County in Jonglei State, blaming the attacks on the opposition outfit SPLM-IO and armed civilians- White Army.