Two Catholic Nuns have been killed in an ambush in South Sudan. 

Sr Mary Daniel Abut and Sr Regina Roba were part of a group of nine sisters travelling together in a mini-bus when gunmen attacked them. Five other people were also killed in the attack which happened on the highway linking the capital Juba with Uganda on 16th August. 

Sister Christine John Amaa, of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in South Sudan said :

"Our former Superior General, Sr. Mary Daniel Abut, who served the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus from 2006 to 2018, and Sr. Regina Roba, were killed cold-bloodedly on their way back to Juba after celebrations of the centenary of the parish of the Assumption of Our Lady." 

Following the ambush by unknown armed men, says Sister Amaa, the sisters "tried to escape and hid in the surrounding bushes. The criminals managed to find the two nuns and killed them in cold blood."

Sister Mary Daniel was the headmistress of the Usra Tuna School in Juba. Sister Regina was a tutor and administrator at the Catholic Health Training Institute (CHTI) in the Catholic Diocese of Wau.

No militia has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Sisters are the latest civilian casualties in a conflict which has claimed an estimated 400,000 lives since the country gained independence from Sudan in 2011.