A road ambush blamed on South Sudanese rebels left 21 people dead over the weekend in a fiercely contested region in the south of the country, a police spokesman said Monday.

Their lorry, travelling from the capital Juba to the city of Yei on Saturday, “fell into ambush and it was burnt down with some families. We lost something like 21 people,” said spokesman Dominant Kawcgwok. He said most of the dead were women and children fleeing violence in the north of the country.

Source: AFP