10 killed in South Sudan nightclub grenade attack

At least 10 people have died and dozens others injured after a hand grenade exploded in a South Sudan nightclub, police said.

James Monday Enoka, a police commissioner in Yambio Town, told Reuters six of the injured were in critical condition and that they had been evacuated to Juba for medical treatment.

The explosion occurred on Friday around 11 p.m. local time when someone threw “a hand grenade into a club where 500 people were dancing…we found four people dead on (the) spot,” Enoka said.

He said the death toll had increased to 10 by Monday while dozens others were injured.

According to him, the incident is not related to the ongoing civil war which has gripped South Sudan since 2013.

The war pit President Salva Kiir’s military against opponents led by his former Vice President Riek Machar.

“It is an isolated criminal act and the criminal will face a court of law,” he said.

At least 190,000 people are estimated to have died in the conflict since it started.

The warring sides last month signed a deal that is expected to end the fighting and return a measure of order and security to Africa’s youngest nation.