IDPs reported killed in fresh rebel attack in Kitgum

Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacked a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the war-ravaged northern Kitgum District on Thursday evening, killing some of the people in the camp, humanitarian workers in the area said. "The rebels attacked Kalo Obongo IDP camp in Namokola towards midnight [21:00 GMT] and killed a number of people. The survivors say up to 35 people could have been killed. Ten injured people are admitted in Kitgum hospital," Farah Muktar, a senior humanitarian affairs officer for the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Kitgum told IRIN. Muktar, speaking from Kitgum, said that an inter-agency assessment team would go to the scene of the attack on Saturday and deliver some immediate relief items, including materials for building shelters, household items and other requirements for the people who had been left homeless. A Catholic priest in Kitgum said at least 15 people had been killed while over 100 grass-thatched huts were burnt at the camp, located about 60 km east of Kitgum town, itself about 480 km north of the capital, Kampala. "We have not gathered detailed information about the attack, but many of the people were hacked while a few were burnt in their huts," Father Joseph Garner told IRIN. The Ugandan army spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza, confirmed the incident, but said the army was still collecting details of the attack. "It is true there was an attack and people died, but we are still waiting for information as to how it happened and how many people were killed," Bantariza told IRIN. The attack is the third on IDP camps in northern Uganda within a month. At least 50 people died in previous attacks on Odek and Pagak camps in Gulu District. Hannington Ocaya, who works for the Norwegian Refugee Council in the area, said the attackers were estimated to have been around 100. They first attacked a militia unit guarding the camp, and after overrunning the guards, turned on the civilians. Two militias were reported killed, he added. "The death toll is expected to go higher than 35 because some people were burnt inside their huts. Their bodies had not been recovered when the initial count was made," Ocaya told IRIN from Kitgum. Kitgum District Chairman Norman Ojwee said the victims had returned to their areas to take advantage of the current rains to work on their farms. "There is inadequate food in the area, so the people had returned to scoop some food from the gardens and also take advantage of the current rains to plant some seeds," Ojwee told IRIN. The LRA has waged war against the Ugandan government for 18 years in the north, frequently attacking villages and trading centres, murdering or torturing civilians and abducting scores of children for forcible recruitment as soldiers, porters or sex slaves. In February, the rebels killed hundreds of IDPs when they attacked a camp in Barlonyo, near Lira town. The army blamed the deaths on the laxity of local commanders, who, it said, had allowed the IDPs to set up a camp in an area that was not well protected.