Police in the border region Abyei between Sudan and South Sudan say that the case of two children sexually assaulted and killed last week is rare and unprecedented.

On 10 March two young children were found drowned in a water reservoir in Abyei. A doctor at the hospital said the five year-old girl and six year-old boy were sexually assaulted before being strangled, Radio Tamazuj reported last week.

The chief of police in Agok, Captain Dau Ngor, said child rape was rare, and the case in Athiany had been the only one of its type he had come across, according to the Abyei Today programme aired on Eye Radio.

A doctor at Abyei hospital, Ashai Chol Malual, commented that sexual attacks on young people could sometimes be so physically damaging that they led to the death of the child.

Minyang Ngor, from the Abyei Area social welfare office, said it was important for children who have been abused to get psychological as well as physical treatment.

Related:

Abyei police suspect two children raped and killed (12 March)

File photo: Map of the Abyei area, 2011 (NYT)