Ethiopian troops seek kidnapped children in South Sudan

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

Ethiopian troops have crossed into South Sudan in search of 125 children abducted by an armed group last week, local media reported late Wednesday.

The soldiers crossed the border and surrounded Jior and Kok, where the children are believed to be held by Murle tribesmen, Gatluak Tut, the president of Gambella Regional State, told the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporation.

Last Friday, the Murle attacked 13 villages in Gambella, killing 208 men, women and children from the Nuer and Agnuak tribes. As well as kidnapping children, the attackers also took 2,000 cattle.

Gambella hosts thousands of South Sudanese refugees who fled a civil war that broke out in in December 2013.