Crime barricade tape. | Courtesy.

At least 10 young boys were killed, some hacked with machetes, on Wednesday night by armed men who raided Wonduruba Payam in Central Equatoria State, a local administrator said.

Wonduruba administrator, Tongo Stephen Michael, said the incident occurred just hours after a military offensive against forces of the National Salvation Front (NAS) in the outskirts of the area.

The offensive followed the departure of Central Equatorial Governor Augustino Jadalla from the area to Yei in his ongoing tour to the counties.

According to him, during midnight, he thought he heard what sounded like a rainstorm which he discovered the next morning as a gunfire targeting civilians areas.

Tongo said, in an interview with Eye Radio, that some women rushed to his house on Thursday morning to inform him that many boys were “murdered” during the night attack.

He said those killed are mainly young people except for a 44-year-old businessman, and some of the victims were hacked to death with machetes.

“There was an operation against NAS rebels in the outskirts of Woundruba. After that everybody went home, all of a sudden at night around 12 and almost 1 am, I thought it was rain but it was a gunshot within the civil population,” he said.

“In the morning, women rushed to me crying and a lot of boys had been killed and others chopped with pangas, so around seven were killed along the road and the three were in the bush.”

When quizzed about who is responsible for the attack, the Payam administrator said they are still collecting information to establish the assailants.

SSPDF spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang told Eye Radio that he was yet to get full information about what happened there.