Two SPLA soldiers injured in shootout over money

LAMWO/KITGUM. Two Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Government (SPLA-IG) soldiers have been hospitalised in critical conditions at Kitgum Hospital in Kitgum District after sustaining bullet injuries following a shoot-out among them.
The Wednesday night incident happened in Otwila Village, Ngomoromo Parish in Lukung Sub-county, Lamwo District.
Security officials reported that two SPLA soldiers, who had crossed two kilometres into Ugandan territory to drink local gin, developed misunderstanding over money at night before they exchanged gunshots.
The Lukung Sub-county chairperson, Mr Joachim Ocan, told Saturday Monitor on Thursday: “We got reports that when the soldiers left the drinking joint, they began disagreeing over money on their way back to the South Sudan territory and before long, they exchanged gunshots leaving both of them injured.”
Mr Ocan said the injured soldiers were rushed to Kitgum Hospital.
Dr Geoffrey Akena, the Kitgum Hospital Superintendent, told Saturday Monitor that the soldiers had lost a lot of blood by the time they were brought at the facility but noted they are slowly improving.
Without disclosing identities of the soldiers, Dr Akena said one of the soldiers sustained a broken left leg while the other has a bullet stuck in his thigh. The Lamwo Resident District Commissioner, Mr Jonathan Rutabingwa, said they were still investigating the circumstances under which the soldiers entered with their guns into Ugandan territory.
He noted that after the incident, the soldiers were allowed safe passage for medical treatment through Ngomoromo border post. Mr Rutabingwa said the soldiers could be among some of the SPLA soldiers who had been stationed in Lubone sub-county, in Torit state near the Ugandan border to hunt for bandits during an outbreak of violence in South Sudan last year.
Efforts to get comments from the Fourth Infantry Division Spokesperson, Maj Telesphor Turyamumanya, were futile as he did not answer our repeated phone calls.