A herder from the Fallata nomadic tribe was killed and another wounded by unknown gunmen during a livestock raid in Sudan’s Blue Nile state, according to a traditional leader.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, the Fallata tribal leader Issa Ahmed blamed a group of about 100 armed Nuer belonging to the SPLA-IO rebel group for attacking a cattle camp in southern Blue Nile yesterday morning.

“The incident resulted in the killing of one herder and wounded another seriously,” he said. Ahmed further said the assailants took over 1,000 head of sheep and 6 camels.

He accused the opposition fighters of torching and ransacking the entire village before they manage to run southward along the Upper Nile-Blue Nile border.

The tribal leader further said the assault resulted in the displacement of villagers to areas deep inside Blue Nile.

SPLM-IO military spokesman Lul Ruai responded to the accusation today, saying that the attack was carried out by SPLA-North and not by SPLA-IO.

“Fighters from SPLA-North and Sudan Revolutionary Forces (SRF) led by Gen. Malik Agar stole over 100 cows, 6 camels and 5 donkeys from civilians at Jebel Garet, Wulu, in Blue Nile State,” he stated.

He denied the report by the Fallata tribal leader saying, “This is simply not true since we do not have presence anywhere in Blue Nile State in neighboring Republic of Sudan.”