Speaking to Sudans Post on Saturday morning, a senior member of the Agwelek faction said from the Sudanese capital Khartoum that Gen. Parom who is also the operation commander for the rebel group was killed on Monday when forces belonging to Gatwech crossed the River Nile from Jonglei to attack a base outside Tonja.
“The unfortunate incident happened on Monday morning when a group of armed civilians allied to Gatwech Dual crossed the river (Nile) to attack our base near Tonja and they took around 13 officers including Gen. Parom,” the officer who requested not to be identified by name because of sensitivity of the issue, said.
“We have heard that they later on killed Gen. Parom, but the fate of the other 12 is still not confirmed and as we speak, we are still collecting intelligence reports as to how he was killed and this will unfortunately take time because it is hard,” he added.
When contacted by Sudans Post, the military spokesman of the SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction Brig. Gen. Alfred Gach Thot said they have confirmed the killing from their colleagues on the ground and accused Gen. Olony’s forces of continued attacks despite the suffering of the people.
“Yes we can confirm that he has been killed, according to what we have been told by our comrade on the ground and this is the consequence of attacking people who have done nothing wrong. We have a peace agreement and there is supposed to be a ceasefire,” he said.
“But Olony and his men don’t care about the life of the people of South Sudan because when they attack, the suffering of the people increase and this is very unfortunate. So we call upon Olony and his men to at least show mercy and stop their senseless assaults on everyone,” he added.