Army claims successes against rebels in Lira

The Ugandan army has claimed some success in its pursuit of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who killed at least 12 civilians in Lira district earlier this week.

Army spokesman for Lira and Kitgum districts Chris Magezi told IRIN on Thursday that the group involved in the attack had since split into smaller groups.

"We have made a lot of progress in breaking up this group," Magezi said. "We ambushed them at a place called Akura, north of Lira town. We killed one and captured one, forcing the others to flee. We also recovered 25 abductees."

Magezi said the army had hit another group in Pader, north of Lira which had broken away after the first ambush. "We killed two LRA and captured one gun and six magazines," he told IRIN.

He denied claims by local leaders that up to 60 people have been killed by the LRA in Lira in the last three days. "The only deaths were the 12 killed on Monday. Since then, Lira has been quiet."

But people looking after some of the abductees who managed to escape, stressed there had been more deaths. Father Sebhat Ayele said one abductee had talked of 30 people being killed in one incident.

"Their stories are horrific," Sebhat told IRIN over the telephone. "One 30-year-old man who was abducted on Monday and escaped after a UPDF [Uganda People's Defence Forces] ambush told me the rebels made their victims lie face down on the ground before smashing their heads with an axe."

On Wednesday, Uganda’s first deputy prime minister and minister for disaster preparedness Moses Ali said the government would continue to pursue the rebels militarily, but added that any rebel who wanted to surrender under an amnesty would be protected.

"Most of these fighters are abducted and forced to fight, so it is important when they escape that they have a door through which to run," he said.