Attack kills seven South Sudanese peace delegates, Norway NGO confirms

OSLO, Norway

A Norwegian humanitarian organization said Thursday seven South Sudanese delegates who attended a peace conference were killed in two of its cars, while three of its employees escaped unharmed.

"We strongly condemn the attack on civilians and humanitarian aid workers," the head of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), Dagfinn Hoybraten, said in a statement.

"The attack demonstrates how demanding and complex it is to work in a country where the security situation is changing all the time," he added.

The seven were killed on Saturday in Imehejek in Eastern Equatoria state after attending a peace conference and being offered a ride in NCA cars.

Three NCA employees, also from South Sudan, escaped unharmed, NCA said.

The humanitarian organisation provided no other details, saying the attack was still under investigation.

In South Sudan, Eastern Equatoria state's information minister Patrick Oting told AFP the attack was "unfortunate", adding that conference was intended to defuse tensions between two communities over cattle raids.

"It is an unfortunate situation that has happened, in fact these people were (here) for the peace dialogue mission to Imehejek," he said.