Gunmen attacked a passengers’ boat in Nasser County in the oil-rich Upper Nile State on Wednesday, killing one person, a local official said.

 “Community chiefs from Wanga-Ading Payam were going to the Lire area to talk to Gen. Simon Gatwech’s forces who defected in September to vacate the area to avoid clashes because Riek Machar’s forces are also present in the area. On arrival before disembarking, they were ambushed in Lire, and one person was killed while four others sustained injuries,” Duol Kuon, Commissioner of Nasir County, told Radio Tamazuj.

The local official pointed out that those injured are still in Lire and that arrangements are being made to evacuate them to Nasser town for treatment.  

“The incident took place on Wednesday at 12 PM. So, the injured are still there but we are planning to bring them to Nasir town so that they are treated. Those attackers went to an area called Kier after the incident,” he said.

William Gatjath Deng, a military spokesperson for the SPLA-IO faction led by Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual, gave a different version of the story and said: “No peace can be made without our knowledge. Machar’s forces came from Nasir and attacked us in Kier. They were not coming for peace. There, we clashed with them and killed four people from their side. From our side, only two soldiers were injured.” 

For his part, Lam Paul Gabriel, a military spokesperson for the SPLA-IO faction led by First Vice President Riek Machar, said he had no information about the clashes.