Security alert after LRA rebels kill 15

Security officials in war-torn northern Uganda are on high alert following two Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel attacks on civilian vehicles. According to the army, the LRA attacked a bus travelling through northwest Uganda on the Karuma-Pakwach road on Wednesday, setting fire to the bus and killing 14 people. Another 12 were seriously injured and rushed to Pakwach hospital. Officials said the death toll was expected to rise as the 12 are in critical condition. Prior to the ambush, the area had been free of rebel activity for some seven months, according to army spokesman for Gulu district, Lt Paddy Ankunda. A day later, the LRA ambushed a civilian pick-up truck about 40km east of Gulu on the Gulu-Moroto road. “They killed one and seriously injured another before burning the pick-up truck they were travelling in to ash,” Ankunda told IRIN. Security has been beefed up in response to the attacks, according to security sources. “We still have measures to pursue them hard and efforts are being made to curtail future occurrences of this nature,” said Ankunda. He added that security had also been massively increased around Gulu following a recent trend which has seen rebel attacks and child abductions encroaching further on the town. Gulu is strategically the most important town in the northern region. However, Ankunda played down the recent ambushes. “These are just last resort acts of desperation, characteristic of any losing army to gain empty publicity,” he told IRIN. “The aim is to send a message to the world that they still exist by unleashing mayhem on innocent civilians.”