Army says it has killed 60 rebels

The Ugandan army has said it killed over 60 rebels in intense fighting with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) over the weekend. The army also said it captured a number of weapons. According to army sources, two separate operations were launched, the first on Saturday, in which government forces ambushed a group of about 100 rebels near the border with Sudan, killing 56 of them; in the second, on Sunday, five members of a smaller rebel group were killed and eight captured. The army spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza, told IRIN on Monday that the successes were significant, because it was believed that the larger group was planning to attack civilians in Kitgum District. "The rebels were trying to enter Uganda from Sudan to commit fresh atrocities, but our forces repelled them," Bantariza said. The LRA deputy chief, Vincent Otti, who reportedly led the larger group, managed to survive the battle, Bantariza said. Those who died in Sunday's fight brought the total number of rebels killed to 61, he added. Last week, the army announced fresh deployments inside Sudan to root out rebel bases and training camps there, especially in the mountainous areas near the border with Uganda. The operations are being conducted by Ugandan forces under the Operation Iron Fist agreement signed by Uganda and Sudan in June 2002 and renewed this month, authorising Ugandan troops to enter southern Sudan in pursuit of the rebels. The cult-like LRA have waged war in northern Uganda for 18 years. Led by reclusive mystic, Joseph Kony, they say they want topple the government, which is dominated by southerners, and restore power to the Acholi people in the north. Yet observers note that most of the group’s atrocities are committed against defenceless civilians, usually fellow Acholis. Virtually all LRA recruits are abducted children who are brainwashed by fear and forced to commit violent acts. Last month over 300 people were killed by the rebels in a camp for internally displaced persons in Lira District, 200 km north of the capital, Kampala.